Water torture

Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 3
Paper Date: Tue, Mar 27, 2001
Byline: Terry Ally

IT MAY be a case for the X-Files. Residents toiled for hours Saturday removing boat loads of water lettuce from a pond at Bayfield, St Philip, and just over 24 hours later the pest returned with a vengeance.

The entire pond, covering about one acre, is now totally choked. Dr Sean Carrington, an expert in plant biology at the University of the West Indies, said there were few options available to remove it.

Apart from removing it by hand the only other option was to drain the pond, he said, ruling out use of herbicides which were not environmentally friendly and which would kill the fish in the pond. The water lettuce and water hyacinth were excellent filters for heavy metals and nutrients, he said.

New Chief Agricultural Officer Barton Clarke said he spoke with Minister of Agriculture Anthony Wood last Friday but they had yet to come up with a plan to deal with the problem.

A vacationing farmer from Britain, Eric Smith, said he had a similar problem in Britain and was told to throw a bale of barley and a bale of hay into the pond, which he did. Eight weeks later the water lettuce died and never returned. He added, however, that he did not know what reactions took place between the hay and barley to control the lettuce.