THE INFILLING OF LAMAI’S BEAUTIFUL SWAMP

Every day, about 5 years ago, dozens of lorries, started coming to Lamai’s swamp, right in the centre of Lamai, dumping their loads of various types of rubbish, slowly infilling the swamp & then a backhoe or JCB would come & push the piles of rubbish into the water & when it was leveled out, they would cover it with soil or sand.

Included in this rubbish, there were mattresses, settees, lots of plastic & polystyrene, as well as the usual garden & building waste. In 1 of the photos, you can see 3 mattresses in the left foreground,

I wouldn’t have thought they are biodegradable?

I would estimate that 80% of the swamp is now under rubbish & the wild life that inhabit this area is now under threat, there are Coucals, Indian Rollers, Hawks, Kingfishers, white breasted Water Hens & many Swifts, Swallows & Mynah Birds, just to mention a few. Then there are the Snakes, Eels, Lizards, including a few Monitors, all of which will slowly be forced out of their natural habitat because I have heard that a big hotel or resort will eventually be built here.

I wrote about this infilling approximately 4 years ago, at the time we were all hoping that they would stop but it’s not happening. 2 other points, what if the water table is adversely affected & what if methane gas starts appearing?

My words today are perhaps a little too late but I felt as though it needed saying.

 

Des Gillet, Lamai.

 

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