Gomti River in India's Lucknow Turns Green With Water Hyacinth

During the Gomti riverfront development project, launched in 2015, temporary dams were built for decoration there. However, the river stretch caused two obstructions due to water hyacinth growing in the dam that is hindering the flow of water.

A thick green cover of invasive water hyacinth in Gomti River in India's Lucknow city has turned the water green, hampering the unhindered flow of water.

Officials from Uttar Pradesh state's Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) have said that one of the reasons behind the growing water hyacinth in the river is that the irrigation department has shut down the Gomti barrage to recycle water for domestic consumption.

Another reason is that around 17 drains are continuously discharging sewage into the river unchecked.

"We have installed ropes at seven places to prevent the hyacinth from reaching the barrage. Three machines -- one trash steamer and two poclain machines -- have been deployed for their cleaning, from the eight-km stretch of Ghaila to Gomti barrage," an LMC official told news agency IANS, adding that if the Gomti barrage e out the water hyacinth from the river, it will cause a water scarcity.

Despite several measures to remove water hyacinth from the river, the civic official said that within hours, it comes back with the flow of the water.

Venkatesh Dutta, environmentalist and faculty member at Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, explained that stagnant water, which features high nitrogen and phosphorus, creates favorable conditions for water hyacinth.

"To stop growth, more than a dozen untapped drains that are continuously feeding the Gomti River through sewage must be stopped first," Dutta said.

According to experts, the natural flow of the river must be maintained, and drains discharging effluent into the Gomti should be tapped to prevent the spread of the aquatic plants causing water hyacinth and contamination of the water.

Lucknow University's Geology Professor Dhruv Sen Singh, an expert on rivers, explained, "Water hyacinth doesn't grow in flowing water as their roots hang in the water underneath the plant and stems are spongy, bulbous stalks that contain air-filled tissues that keep the plant afloat. So, if the flow is high it goes with the flow and dies eventually."

Meanwhile, LMC's Additional Commissioner Pankaj Singh along with the Irrigation Department is planning to increase the manpower, and work towards clearing it up soon.