KATHMANDU, Nepal–In an attempt to manage water hyacinth in a sustainable way, a joint team of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and Pokhara University Research Center (PURC) have launched a research on the plant in the Phewa Lake which extend around 450 hectors of land in Pokhara.
In its preliminary presumption, NAST sees the huge potentialities of the plant for bio-fuel productions. The joint team accomplished a three-day survey of the lake. Earlier, NAST had already carried out a study of the chemicals resulting from the water hyacinths.
The fifteen months long survey is divided into two phases. Its second phase will be carried out from the next fiscal year. Environmentalists and local bodies’ attempt to remove the plant from the lake had gone futile.
Though various efforts were made by environmentalists and local bodies to clear water hyacinths from the lake since a decade, defacing the scenic beauty of Phewa Lake in Pokhara, has been a nightmare for locals.