A new endeavor to manage the proliferation of lirio acuático (water hyacinth) in Lake Chapala will be launched in around two months’ time, Magdalena Ruiz Mejia, the head of Jalisco’s Ministry of the Environment and Territorial Development (Semadet), told the Reporter this week.
Ruiz revealed additional details of the water weed control initiative during a January 22 visit to Chapala in company with Governor Aristoteles Sandoval.
Back in December, the Jalisco legislature wrote a four-million-peso earmark into the 2016 state budget for the Chapala Limpio program, confirmed by Sandoval during his appearance last week.
Expanding on the topic, Ruiz explained that a specially designed machine will be employed to extract the lirio from the lake and grind it up for composting on land. A complementary study will be carried out to analyze the chemical components of the green material and determine whether it is safe for use as a natural agricultural fertilizer.
The Semadet official stressed that the application of herbicides has been ruled out as a method of eradicating the plants. She also mentioned that the program will be geared to conserve patches of bulrushes and other types of endemic lake vegetation to avoid altering an ecosystem that provides habitat for fish and wild birds. The agency will also educate lakeshore mayors, local officials and the public on the ecological value of these beneficial aquatic plants.
Another plus of the Chapala Limpio program will be the generation of temporary jobs for local fishermen who will be recruited for manpower, Ruiz noted.