A detoxing pilot project has brought a river back from the dead, the Meghalaya government has claimed.
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The Lukha river is in the East Jaintia Hills district where most of Meghalaya’s rat-hole coal mines are located.
The Lukha — “reservoir of fish” in the local Pnar language — was considered toxic beyond redemption a decade ago because of the contamination on acid mine drainage and run-off from the coal mines.
The pilot project to rejuvenate the Lukha by using algae to remove toxic contents from the water has become a success. The detoxification process is called phycoremediation.
