Water hyacinth cleared from Lake Kariba

The Zambesi River Authority has cleared 2,200 ha of water hyacinth on Lake Kariba using aerial sprays with a chemical weed killer, PANA reported on Wednesday. It quoted a river authority report saying the success rate against what it called "the notorious weed" had been 80 percent successful. The weed, which deprives the water of oxygen, had covered almost the whole surface of the man-made lake on the Zambesi River. The clearing project started on the southern Zimbabwe side of the lake in 1998. An international conference to assist Zambia in the battle against water hyacinth is being planned for October, PANA said.