A new study found that the abundance of these floating plants has increased due to urbanization.
Over the past six decades, the Valsequillo reservoir has fallen victim to one of the world’s most invasive aquatic plants. The reservoir located south of the Puebla municipality in central Mexico was once filled with clear water; now nearly half of its surface is covered with clumps of water hyacinths. And Valsequillo reservoir is not unique. The growth is part of a global trend of water bodies being overrun by the unruly floating plants.
Loved by many people around the world for their beautiful flowers, the native Amazonian plants are now seen by water managers as pests. The invasive plants, which grow at exponential rates, obstruct waterways, clog hydropower plants, and block sunlight from penetrating much below the water’s surface. A recent study by scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) showed water hyacinth invasions have increased in reservoirs worldwide in recent decades, despite costly efforts to control the plants.
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Image via NASA Earth Observatory
