Water hyacinth is choking the Korattur lake and increasing the chances of it flooding.
What’s happening? Most of the Korattur lake has disappeared under a green blanket of water hyacinth. It’s a type of invasive floating plant found on water bodies that block sunlight and bring down oxygen levels in water bodies. Excess amounts of hyacinth lower the water quality and affect the lifeforms. It grows in the presence of sewage.
- Videos shared by residents show sewage freely flowing into the lake during the day. Residents near the lake say that the lake will flood during the monsoon. It’s also an important source of groundwater.
- Despite notices from the water resources department to the encroachers on the lake, no action has been taken. Officials said they have begun desilting the mouth of the lake.
Experts speak: One civil engineer said the inlets should be plugged with a peripheral sewage interceptor drain along the lake’s boundary. The Corporation’s stormwater drains release sewage from the Karrukku area into the lake.