The Panjapatti Lake rejuvenation is the most notable project of Nansey Restoration LLP and the WakeOurLake Team. Panjappatti lake is one of the largest lakes which spreads around 1300 acres located in the Karur district. Due to the overabundance of a flowering invasive weed (Prosopis juliflora/Seemai Karuvelam in Tamil), the entire catchment area and natural flora were slowly drying up.

The first phase of rejuvenation involved the removal of invasive weeds that had spread across the lake and surrounding areas which had sucked up even the last bit of water that was left in the lake after the rains. Despite the efforts and immense support from the local community comprised of farmers, our strenuous efforts started to fail with the vigorous growth rate of plants.

(Image: Local champs clearing the weeds)

In the second phase, Nansey and Wakeourlake teamed up with a green power generation company (OGPL), and deployed a special crawler machinery that uproots weeds, crushes, and converts them into reusable biomass. This enabled us to accomplish the task and clear some major areas, widen the lake, and strengthened the lake bund.

During the rainy season, the water from Mayanur Dam discharges to this lake and there are upcoming plans in progress to store this water efficiently, recharge the lake and benefit local farmers for cultivation. Native trees in the region were planted to maintain the green cover. Further, we plan to use the Miyawaki method and create a dense forest to help the area get back its green cover back.

Click here to watch the facebook video of Panjapatti Lake Renovation (supported by Sabari Green Foundation, Chennai)

https://wakeourlake.org/blog/Panjapatti