Corona Blog – 07-08-2020

The Vellayani Lake Challenge

By Ajith Kumar, Manager Administration at kanthari

Once upon a time, we had a lake that had sparkling fresh water. The Vellayani area and its lake was one of the best hotspots for photographers and cinematographers, its ambience being one of the most beautiful in Kerala. Years later the scenario has changed, the Vellayani lake which we still claim as a freshwater lake is now actually a catchment area for pollutants.

The growth of several invasive species like the Cabomba Caroliniana (purple plants), Eichhornia Crassipes (Water Hyacinths), Limnocharis Flava, Salvinia Molesta (Small floaters), floating grass and last but not least, Lotus plants are choking the lake, drastically reducing the area where clear water can be found. This growth is accelerated by chemical fertilizers, and even sewage waste.

kanthari started its lake cleaning program in the year 2010. Our staff and participantsstarted manual cleaning on our banks with the intention of at least clearing our area. It was difficult then to reach out to people residing by other parts of the lake, but we were determined to involve the community in our cleanup drive.
In the year 2016, we were able to find a local partner Neerthadakam Paristhiti Samrakshana Sangahadana, a group of passionate environment lovers, who also wanted to make Vellayani lake clean and beautiful again. With the help of Neerthadakam, our participants started awareness campaign in schools and colleges, and conceptualized a lake festival to instill a sense of ownership in the local community.
Since then, Neerthadakam has been a close partner for our Clean the Lake campaign. In the year 2017, our participants again joined hands with them to conduct a lake festival at the lake side at Kakkamoola bund. They also raised around Rs 48000/- to buy a pedal boat for them with the condition that they will use it to clean the lake.

In 2018, we were able to gather around 200 volunteers who waded out into several parts of the lake and plucked out as many weeds and lotus as they could. Neerthadakam and several other NGO’s, like Hope and Indus Cycling Embassy joined hands with us to promote lake cleaning. We formed a Save Vellayani Lake cleanup committee and with the help of volunteers from several colleges in the city, several cleanup drives were conducted in various parts of the lake.
In the year 2019, an NGO based in Trivandrum Swasti foundation took up the challenge of mechanizing the cleanup with the help of a weed harvester. We were all happy that the lake was finally going to be freed from weeds and other pollutants. They chose the south portion of the Vavvamoola bund area for the cleanup. It took six months to clean a relatively small portion of the lake extending to around 100 acres, but the other portions of the lake, still massively infested by weeds, is shrinking day by day.

In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, 70 – 80 acres of the mechanically cleaned area was reclaimed by water hyacinths (Eichhornia Crassipes, which can double its numbers every two weeks). Neerthadakam had no other choice but to gather as many people as possible to manually clean the lake. They decided to devote two hours every day early in the morning. They started on May 18th, 2020 with around 15 volunteers, but soon to their delighted surprise, morning walkers joined in with them, and later so did the nearby residence association, several other organizations and individuals. Weekend cleanup drives were attended by more than 200 people. Pouring rain, wind and high-water levels did not stop them. This continued for 67 days until every portion of the 100 acres was cleaned. Ingeniously, they started experimenting with the stalks of the water hyacinths and are now experts in making baskets and several other products.
We are pleased to associate with Neerthadakam and to know that the pedal boat donated by the 2017 batch has been and is playing a crucial part in the cleanup activities.

We are grateful to the entire Neerthadakam team, Vellayani cleanup committee, Kadavinmoola residence association, and all other organizations who provided their wholehearted support.
However, there is a lot more work yet to be done, and we hope to spread the love of conserving the lake to all residents.
We look forward to maintaining this fruitful association with Neerthadakam and associating with to explore making more value-added products out of water hyacinth, which has the advantage of keeping the lake clean, providing livelihood, and creating environmentally friendly, biodegradable products with locally sourced materials.

Anyone who wants to join the cleaning activities can contact us at ajith[at]kanthari[.]org