Student volunteers organized by the Association to Conserve Donggang River on Sunday removed 10 tonnes of water lilies from Dongyuan Lake (東源湖) in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹), as part of a project to restore the local attraction.
The 2-hectare lake, which is also known as the Weeping Lake (哭泣湖), is near the predominantly Aboriginal community of Dongyuan Village (東源).
In August 2009, flooding caused by Typhoon Morakot introduced water lilies to the lake, which in the following years grew rampantly, covering more than 1.5 hectares of the lake’s surface by 2013.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
Tourists have lamented the state of the lake, with one saying: “The view of the Weeping Lake in recent years made me want to weep,” with the vegetation obstructing a clear view of the lake.
“In the past, when I returned home from work, I felt as if the lake was greeting me,” an older resident said. “However, over the past few years, almost all of the waterways have become filled with water lilies and the lake has become a stranger to us.”
The local Aboriginal community held several meetings to address the water lily problem, with a proposal to clean the lake receiving near-unanimous support.
Last year saw the first campaign to clear the lake, with volunteers removing water lilies from half of the lake’s surface. However, the tenacious herbs defied them by repopulating the lake in six months’ time.
In response, the association embarked on a new project to clean the lake on weekends by recruiting student volunteers from schools and youth groups such as National Pingbei Senior High School, Kus Kus and Dongyuan youth associations.
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