Ghooran Mahto

Dear Ghooran,

I was recently in Assam, and saw highly eutrophied lakes and canals there.

It made wonder if a system of floating gardens could be devloped that rise and fall with changes in lake level. The starting point be a bamboo raft on which a light layer of compost is placed, and then a semi-aquatic plant like taro (Colocasia, kochu, arvi) that tolerates and absorbs nutrients very effectively.

When harvested, the taro leaves could be used as animal fodder, and the corms could be used as a starch source for biofuel production. The initial compost could be produced using water hyacinth, a plant that clogs water ways and makes movement difficult for boats. This plant could be dried on the lake shore, and then loaded onto rafts for compost, and perhaps burned under oxygen-limited conditions to provide a soft charcoal for soil improvement.

The goal then would be to sumltaneously clear the waterways and recover nutrients for recycling on land, using organic materials at every step.

Just some thoughts. What ideas do people in Bihar have for cleaning the waterways?