Water hyacinth: From bane to boon

From menace to means of livelihood.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) has started a program to train Cotabato City residents to make productive use of water hyacinth, considered the city’s scourge.

Thick mats of water hyacinth blocked the flow of Rio Grande River, causing flooding in large swaths of the city.

Tesda Director General Joel Villanueva said the agency would send instructors from Manila to train for five days at least 25 people in Cotabato City on turning water hyacinth into products like bags, slippers and accessories.

The participants are expected to train residents, including people affected by massive flooding in communities around the Rio Grande.

“Amid the calamity, we believe this training opportunity will give the people of Cotabato, especially those displaced by the flood, a ray of hope for livelihood opportunities to help them get back on their feet,” Villanueva said in a statement.

He said the training would be conducted in Tesda centers in Cotabato City. Tesda has long been undertaking skills training using water lilies for handicrafts.

Livelihood training

“Tesda has a resource-based skills and livelihood training program that it is now employing to help the Cotabato residents who have been affected by the flood,” Villanueva said.

The official said Tesda would also help trainees gain government certification, usually required in job applications.

“Tesda’s intervention does not stop at the training, but goes all the way to facilitating post-training activities such as assessment and certification of the graduates so that they can avail [themselves] of more permanent jobs in the future,” Villanueva said.

Different from lily

Water hyacinth, a free-floating perennial aquatic plant, is often mistakenly called water lily.

On his website, grammarian Jose Carillo, who grew up in a house just a stone’s throw away from a creek, says water hyacinth has seven species comprising the genus Eichhornia.

It has broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves and may rise up to one meter above the water surface. Its erect stalk supports a single spike of eight to 15 flowers, mostly lavender to pink with six petals, according to Carillo.

He says the common water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, grows very vigorously and is known to double its population in two weeks.

Aggressive invader

“It’s a very aggressive invader that forms thick mats that can cover the entire surface of a river or pond, causing oxygen depletions and fishkills,” he says.

In contrast, water lilies, whose estimated 70 species comprise the genus Nymphae, are rooted in soil in bodies of water. It has flat, almost circular or oval leaves that either float on the surface of the water or are held above the water, he says.

He says the flowers are borne singly on the stems and have numerous petals that all look alike. “The beauty of many water lily varieties has led to their widespread use as ornamental plants. They also serve as valuable natural oxygenator for ponds, allowing fish to breathe and beneficial bacteria to thrive,” Carillo says. Tarra Quismundo