Located in Muthurayarpalayam, around 7 km from Pondicherry Town, the Aayi Kulam is a pond that was dug out around 500 years ago by a local Devadasi named Aayi, for the benefit of people. It was a perennial source of water for Puducherry during the French regime. Long neglected, the pond was fast shrinking with dense vegetation, rampant encroachment on all sides and to make things worse the sewage water with plastic and garbage was entering the lake through a canal.

Wake our Lake and the volunteers were consulted and guided by Nansey Restoration LLP. Nancy and the team have developed ideas of filtering the water using nets, using gravel, and vetiver or canna to have the water filtered and also suggested that they create islands in the middle of the pond with trees that would encourage some birds, insects, and an ecosystem to thrive. A barrier made of stones was built by volunteers to filter out the garbage and plastic from entering the lake and temporarily increase the height of the outlet by filling it with stones. This ongoing project requires government support and funding for the volunteers to scale this project effectively.

https://wakeourlake.org/blog/Aayikulam