Houseboats fix bio tanks with toilets to treat waste using Australian technology, in a bid to save the lake from pollution.
The famous Dal Lake has gotten a new lease of life as traditional houseboats are now adopting eco-friendly technology to save the ailing water body. For the first time in 125 years, two houseboats have become trend-setters by adopting the eco-friendly technology to save the Dal lake from lethal pollutants.
Sakoon aka Neil Armstrong has become the first plastic-free eco-stylish houseboat with bio-toilets in the Dal Lake. The five room luxury houseboat has fixed bio tanks with their toilets, where the waste is treated by a three-layer mini-sewerage treatment plant. Using Australian technology found mostly in houseboats in the backwaters of Kerala, the waste is treated by bio-enzymes. The water is filtered through two layers of plant before it goes into the lake bed.
Sakoon is also the first houseboat to be declared plastic free. “We do not even use plastic bottled mineral water. We serve fresh, filtered portable water which is stored in copper containers,” said Manzoor Ahmad, manager of Sakoon.
This is also the first houseboat to shun the use of wood for bukharis (heaters) to keep rooms warm and use central heating system instead. The houseboat is also switching over to solar power.
Wooden walkways leading to the houseboat have also been removed to create a better environment for birds. The birds usually build their nest on the lotus leaves in the lake bed. But the artificial structure disturbs their habitat. Three-hundred meters away, the `King of Sea’ houseboat too has fixed the bio-tanks with toilets to treat the waste in a bid to save the lake from being polluted. “It is a clean technology and we use enzymes that are made in Australia to treat the waste”, explained Farooq Ahmad Kotru, owner of King of Sea.
The eco-friendly houseboats have come up in the backdrop of J&K High Court’s directions to shift houseboats to save the lake from being polluted.
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