We have been experiencing heavy rains in Kerala for the last two weeks, or perhaps a month. In fact, there hasn’t been a respite since June. Such an increased frequency of instances of low atmospheric pressure is a new phenomenon. The rains of today are different from what I used to see in my childhood. In those days, it was fun to feel the outdoors during rain. The water flowing on the paths was good. Of course, there were muddy puddles, and they caused fungal infection called Athlete’s foot (tinea pedis). But today we cannot walk along such water-clogged streets because both rain water and gutter water get mixed, especially in urban areas.

During these rains, I had to go into an interior area where rubber plantation was done. As the price of rubber has come down, no one is applying fertilizers and pesticides. So the water flowing in that place was crystal clear, and I enjoyed walking through it. I say this because nearly all the lakes, rivers and ponds in Kerala are getting increasingly polluted.  All business establishments, houses, boats and even individuals permit waste water to flow into rivers. Earlier, while bathing and swimming in rivers, people would take water into their mouths, and think nothing of it. Today, we cannot imagine entering a river or even touching the water.

But there are ways to purify water. Formerly, there used to be many varieties of plants and trees growing near water bodies (they come under the category of riparian vegetation) that used to either block waste water from seeping into the river or absorb it themselves. When we face the problem of polluted water in cities, we can tackle them in two ways. One is by growing plants in waste water channels so that they can soak up soap water. We shall show you a model. Plants like heliconia, canna lily, etc. act as filtering agents and clean up water. So fix them in channels through which washing machine drain water flows.

The other solution lies in making floating islands. I saw them – small islands that are two or three cents big – being used in Adayar canal to clean the water. The roots of the plants on these islands are submerged in water and they absorb all the waste. If you observe, you will see castor bean plants growing in places where there is a lot of waste material. It is said these plants absorb even heavy metals. I do not know anything accurate about its chemical side but castor bean plants are seen where waste accumulates. If we make islands using such plants that will help clean up our water channels. I saw such floating islands being put to use by a foreigner at Pitchandikkulam. The project was a costly one but they did it very efficiently there, and even managed to pay back excess amount after setting the project afloat.

Since we do not have so much money with us, we did it on a smaller scale. The shots you see reveal our efforts. We made the floating island frames using PVC pipes and fixing a rubber sheet on it. Holes were made on the sheet. Next, we placed such plants in orchid pots (that have holes in them) and inserted them in the holes on the sheet. So while the platform remained afloat, the pots and the roots were submerged in water. The plants are water bamboo, canna lily, heliconia, Indian pennywort, brahmi, vetiver and so on. We had planted castor bean plants as well but they wilted on reaching their term.

Here we use floating islands to serve two purposes. One, to keep the fish pond clean. The other, to clean the water that flows out of the bath room into the tank. Excess water will flow out of these channels but what remains inside will be cleaned up by these plants. I have not examined the extent to which purification takes place but nevertheless this is a model worth following. A natural doubt that may arise in your mind is about the appearance of mosquitoes. Yes, mosquitoes will come but fish like guppy or carp fry will eat up the mosquito larvae. So try out this floating island experiment. It is not too costly or impossible to do.  If you can put it to practice, that will be a great thing.