This photo was taken from an article from Science Daily which explains how the bulrush Typha can reduce by 98% pollution loads, including bacterial contamination, from waterways like the Mae Kha canal which runs with black water near the Chiang Mai Night Bazzar.
Typha angustifolia is indigenous to the largely vanished wetlands of Chiang Mai and can be seen in wet areas along the railway line north of Lamphun.
But if we are to take advantage of the healing powers of this plant, which also provides excellent habitat for birdlife where can it be grown?
Planting along the edges of the canal to stabilize the banks as the dangerous concrete is removed should reduce abnoxious odours which upset the nearby residents.
(Note: clicking on any picture will allow zooming in the expand it )
Further upstream there were formerly natural wetlands, which I am told were the property of Chiang Mai Municipality, but durng the Mayorship of Mr Boonlert Buranapakorn, uncle of the present mayor, this site was sold to the retail firm Central Pattana.
Now that the company has opened its new Central Festival shopping mall is the ideal time to return the ownership to the public estate to return the low lying land for use as a pollution abatement and flood control basin.
The Chiang Mai Deputy Governor presently heads a task force working on returning the Mae Kha to be an asset to the Chiang Mai people.
Let us see these ideas raised for action, not decades away, but this year 2015 or 2558.
Recent Comments