Hyderabad: Neknampur Lake gets 'unique' floating cycle to remove litter

Hyderabad: In an initiative to clean lakes in the city, the Neknampur lake in Hyderabad restored by Madhulika Choudary from Dhruvansh, along with JNTU (Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University) students, Hyderabad has created a 'floating cycle' to remove garbage from lakes and maintain floating aerators and floating treatment waterland (FTW).

This floating bicycle helps in reaching extreme corners of the lake and helps in maintenance of floating gardens, to aerate the entire lake and for recreation.

Speaking to the Hans India, Madhulika Choudary, founder of the Dhruvansh said, "I already created a bicycle earlier, but it was very cumbersome. Slowly, we were able to find a solution and created its parts, integrated them and now it is beautifully designed for usage."

Explaining about one of its project, Madhulika said, Neknampur lake was full of water hyacinth but due to floating treatment wetlands, the lake is never covered by weeds. The entire lake is divided into two parts-Chinna Cheruvu and Pedda Cheruvu. Chinna Cheruvu has many fish and turtles because floating aerators help to survive them. Presently, the lake is cleaned once in every week.

Every month, nearly 20 million litres per day (mld) of waste is found in the lake wherein the efforts made to clean the lake are turning out to be futile. As per the requirements of the lakes, the organisation is planning to conduct experiments and revive Mushki lake located in Manikonda, in the outskirts of the city.

Mechanism of Floating bicycle

The entire structure is made of aluminum to avoid rust while it is used in the water

The cycle runs with the help of a propeller

Lightweight crafts are used to make is stable in water

Flywheel is connected with a propeller and paddle to rotate the propeller with the help of a chain made of rubber.

Footrest to climb properly on the cycle

Handle is connected to the propeller to give direction.