Come weekend and Bengaluru-based bank employee, Ashwin Kumar, sets off to Coimbatore. And once he reaches the city, he meets fellow volunteers of Kovai Kulangal Paathukaapu Amaippu , who have been actively working toward reviving and restoring lakes in the city. The volunteers of this group have been cleaning different lakes in Coimbatore every Sunday for the last two years. And, they recently completed 100 weeks of lake cleaning and conservation. “Only after working in the lakes, did I realize the extent of damage we have caused the environment. Even a simple act of ours, like throwing away a tea cup, has been polluting the environment. I have been coming here every week from Bengaluru to take part in the conservation work. We are like a family. If I don’t come for even a week, I feel like I miss everyone.” Seconding him is Abdul Akbar, who has been part of the drive for 50 weeks. “God has blessed us with nature and it’s our duty to protect it. I have been part of lake cleaning drives at Muthannankulam and Vellalore lake and every week has been a learning experience for me.”The brain behind the massive drive is Manikandan R, who’s mission to give lakes in the city a new lease of life. “We started cleaning lakes with the help of the government. Soon, we decided to start doing this work on our own. We shared the information on social media and we got 50 volunteers for our very first drive in Perur Periyakulam. (12.02.2017). We even brought our own JCB. By the next weekend, word had spread and we got around 400 volunteers. We cleaned 300 acres of the lake in a month. Since we were getting huge support, we decided to continue the process. We then cleaned Selvachinthamani and Vellalore lake, Kuniamuthur & Vellallore canal, Kuniamuthur check dam and a 400-year-old well in Sundakkamuthur. We not only cleared the plastic but also invasive species like seema karuvelam (prosopis juliflora). We wanted to clean the source of water first, before the lakes. We focused on places where we could gather the support of public. “When quizzed if the plastic ban by the government of Tamil Nadu has helped them in any way and pat comes the reply. “People still use plastic, don’t they? Now with the elections coming up, their use is not monitored as well. Plastic is choking our water bodies. People throw plastic into water as if it’s their birthright. We would have painstakingly cleaned a lake on Sunday, but the very next day, people would come here, have a drink and throw bottles and plastic. In Coimbatore, there is no place to dump construction debris and septic tank discharges. These are let into the water bodies, which makes our job tougher. If you look at Perur lake, the dump yard is right next to the lake. This can easily get into the lake. We noticed that the garbage that we cleaned at Perur, were thrown into other lakes. If the industries treat their water before letting into the water bodies, it might go a long way in keeping the lakes clean. People also need to be responsible for the lakes. Only if water is available in the lakes, can they be used in agriculture.”So, which was the challenging lake to clean? C Kannan, a volunteer who has worked for more than 100 weeks, tells us, “Vellalore lake! This lake had no water for more than a decade and was filled with garbage and effluents from industries and septic tanks. People started treating this as a garbage bin and soon the area around the lake became small. The place was also filled with seema karuvelam. It took us more than a week to clear the weeds. But, there were bigger challenges awaiting. There are around 8 footbridges across the flow of the water. These bridges were also filled with garbage. We couldn’t use a JCB here and had to manually clean them. Now, we have planted more than 2,000 trees in the lake.”The team has been planting trees using the Miyakawi method and trying to create patches of green across the lakes. Throwing light on the method, ‘Miyakawi’ Rajesh tells us, “Miyawaki is the brainchild of Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. Since 25 per cent of Japan is water, his idea was to develop a forest in a small piece of land. He soon created a forest with many trees and also received a number of awards for the same. We have been following the same technique for the lakes here. We are using the small stretch of land near the lakes for it. We have been digging a 15ft hole under the ground, fill it up plant residue, water hyacinth and plant a tree inside. We have over 60 varieties of plants around Vellalore lake alone. “Manikandan says that the need of the hour is to save the water bodies. “We have already made the entire city a concrete jungle. Lakes are the last resorts for birds and animals to live. If we start destroying them too, it’s going to affect us badly. The Vellalore lake has become a haven for pelicans and they have started nesting here. But, we have seen fishermen shooing away birds here so that they could catch fish easily. Birds too need their food. We need to be responsible for the bio-diversity in the region.”Volunteers in the team have taken up different responsibilities over the last two years. “For instance, 'Miyawaki' Rajesh makes sure he waters the plants every day at Vellalore lake. There is another volunteer, who is doing research on medicinal plants and bringing them here. One volunteer is following cleanliness drives for lakes in other cities. People are also gradually waking up to the fact that we need to conserve nature. Some have even started celebrating special occasions by planting saplings here near the lakes,” sums up Manikandan.

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