Thalangama wetland under double threat
World wetland day was celebrated on February 2 in many places in Sri Lanka with volunteers focusing on cleaning of wetlands and educating the public. Most of these activities are usually limited to the day, but everyday is a wetland day for a group of volunteers near Thalangama lake.
For the last five years, this team of environmentally-conscious volunteers remove trash dumped in and around the wetland. The effort that started with a few individuals has now gained momentum where they monitor about 4 km of streets and waterways in the Thalangama wetland. The volunteers get involved each time, but they have also hired labour. Once a week they use a boat to clean trash and the invasive water hyacinth.
The ‘Thalangama Wetland Watch’ team have removed over 1,000 cubic metres of waste over the past five years.
Dr Pay Drechsel, a German environmental scientist attached to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) who is a resident of the area is the lead behind this initiative. It all started in 2016 when Dr Drechsel observed garbage dumped on the banks of the wetland which made him frustrated. He waited for the relevant institution to clean it up, but then Dr Drechsel realised that institutions may not have the capacity for additional cleaning. So he thought to give the community a Christmas gift and with a friend, he started a cleaning ‘ shramadana’ on Christmas 2016.
From then on, he and colleagues started cleaning around the Thalangama lake, and increased the radius based on the availability of other families joining the effort. “Several community members expressed their wish to help but had no time, so they donated boats or paid someone who was able to walk through the lake to remove invasive plants or collect rubbish in the water,” Dr Drechsel told the Sunday Times.
Thalangama is a wetland located just a few kilometres away from Colombo with two man-made reservoirs, Thalangama tank (28 acres) and Averihena tank (8 acres). The water is used for farming paddy fields in the area. The wetland is a paradise for nature lovers and birdwatchers.
It is commendable that the community around Thalangama wetland stepped forward to keep the wetland clean, and initiatives like this should be encouraged for other wetlands as well, says Prof Sarath Kotagama, eminent ornithologist and author of Sri Lanka’s Wetland Directory. “But we should also address the root cause of the problem where many don’t understand the value of wetlands, seeing them as wastelands,” Prof Kotagama said.
Different types of rubbish end up in the Thalangama wetland and the team sorts them out to do an analysis. The biggest eyesore are the rubbish bags regularly dumped overnight by families too lazy to sort their waste, as well as some food waste from restaurants. “When we sort the content, we know our ‘culprits’. We check for receipts with names or addresses and when we find a pattern, we contact those folks,” Dr Drechsel said.
Fun-seeking gangs also use the wetland to have a drink but end up dumping their bottles and cans irresponsibly: about 80 beer cans and 150 beer and arrack bottles are collected weekly. With the pandemic, new items are found in the garbage - face masks, other personal hygiene products and tissues.
The bigger problem is the industrial waste being dumped in the wetland: Someone keeps dumping large numbers of used tyres in the lake. Tyre dumping started about 18 months ago, and so far 388 tyres have been retrieved. The Thalangama wetland watch volunteers handover recyclable items to recycle plants.
The Thalangama wetland watch team requests everyone not to dump their waste in the Thalangama wetland. More information about the initiative can be found at http://www.wetlandwatch.lk/
Residents and environmentalists fight road threat
Thalangama wetland now faces a road threat from the New Kelani BridgeAthurugiriya Elevated Expressway that is to be built over it. Several large concrete pillars will be built on the wetland affecting the environment and community. Residents and the Centre for Environment Justice (CEJ) have filed writ applications before the Court of Appeal against the project.
Environmentalists claim that no proper EIA has been conducted assessing the environmental impact of this project at the time it got approval in May 2020 and this has been a violation of the law as Thalangama Wetland is declared a protected area under the National Environmental Act (NEA). The NEA was amended in July last year through a Gazette including clauses allowing the construction of highway across the wetland.
The highway will pave the way for noise pollution and emissions which will have a detrimental effect on the environment, hydrology and invaluable biodiversity of the wetland, and on the air quality and health of thousands of inhabitants living in the area.