Nanjarayan Bird Sanctuary restored to winged visitors post removal of water hyacinth

A large amount of water hyacinth has been removed from the Nanjarayan Tank, a bird sanctuary in the Nallar river basin, by a service organisation backed by Tiruppur’s industrial community.

Spanning 125 hectares, the 400-year-old tank, which doesn’t dry up, was revived through a collaborative effort of industries in Tiruppur district and the Forest Department so it continues to support a diverse ecosystem of avian species, reptiles, and aquatic plants.

Birds documented by the Forest Department in the tank include the high-flying bar-headed goose, white stork, woolly-necked stork, grey pelican, spoonbill, openbill stork, grey heron, night heron, pond heron, purple heron, egrets, and glossy ibis.

Under the aegis of Vanathukkul Tiruppur, the industrialists-backed Vetry Trust has so far spent ₹30 lakh to clear about 80% of the water weed in the tank. The remaining hyacinth, the removal of which will require over ₹10 lakh, will be cleared within a month, founder of Vetry Trust T.R. Sivaram, industrialist and environmentalist, promised District Collector Manish Narnaware; Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve D. Venkatesh; and District Forest Officer B. Rajesh.

At a joint site review of the ongoing work, CEO of Vetry Trust Natraj Muthusamy apprised the officials of the collaborative push to restore the ecological health of the Nanjarayan Bird Sanctuary through the removal of the invasive weed. Mr. Sivaram promised that the NGO will continue to safeguard the waterbody from the weed in the coming years.

The operation entailed using a Komatsu custom aquatic boat machine to cut through the dense, interlocking chain links of water hyacinth and move the heavy weed mats to the lake bund.

At the bund, a heavy-duty excavator fitted with a customized back bucket filters out the water, isolating the weed to load it directly into waiting tractors. A total of four vehicles, including two tractors, have been deployed to dispose off the weed elsewhere.

Mr. Natraj said the removal of the weed has resulted in the return of ducks, geese and deep-swimming birds in large numbers to the sanctuary.

The Vetry team shared with the officials photographs and videos of the tank’s transformation, facilitated in no small measure by the southwest monsoon winds, and subsequently the shifting northeast monsoon winds

To prevent a recurrence, the NGO has planned to install customized bamboo or steel filters at the lake’s inlets to block future weed inflows.

Ranger of Tiruppur Forest Range Nithya; president of Nature Society of Tirupur Ravindran; and project director of Vanathukkul Tiruppur Kumar Duraisamy also took part in the site review.