Nagpur: To remove weeds, including water hyacinth, CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) pressed into service airboat ‘Jal Dost’ at Ambazari Lake, in association with Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).
‘Jal Dost’ developed by CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), Bengaluru is a low cost, self-propelled indigenous advanced airboat system for clearing weeds and garbage from lakes.
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Sat 21 Dec. 2024
Deweeding trials were held at Ambazari Lake on Thursday in the presence of NMC Commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari, Additional Commissioner Aachal Goyal, NEERI Director Dr Atul Vaidya, chief scientist Dr Atya Kapley and NMC Executive Engineer Shweta Banerjee. Dr T Karthikeyan, project leader of ‘Jaldost’, were also present.
After the deweeding trial, Dr Vaidya said that Jaldost is a remarkable feat of indigenous engineering aimed at conserving water bodies more effectively. Chaudhari said that the introduction of ‘Jal Dost’ brings hope to the city’s struggle with lake pollution and reflects the power of innovation in addressing environmental challenges.
The Eichhornia weeds in Ambazari Lake are spreading like a virus, polluting the prime water body of the city. The machine came handy for it as it removed a large quantity of Eichhornia weeds from Ambazari lake.
The growth of Eichhornia weeds in Ambazari Lake has been a matter of concern for the civic body. NMC had started removing the weeds from the lake in the month of April but to no avail. The Eichhornia weeds have a variety of negative impacts once introduced into a freshwater environment. It forms dense, impenetrable mats which clog waterways, making boating, fishing and almost all other water activities, impossible.
“Sewage entering into the lake from the MIDC side is the main reason behind the spreading of this weed. We have informed senior officials of MIDC to stop the source of sewage that has been entering the lake,” Dr Gajendra Mahalle, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Solid Waste Management Department, NMC said.
“A team of fire and emergency department is performing the weed removal work for more than one month. With the help of a boat, the firemen are removing the weeds. Now this state-of-the-art machine will speed up the process,” said Dr Mahalle.
