A Proposed Integrated Management Approach to the Control of Water Hyacinth : The Case of Shagashe River in Masvingo , Zimbabwe

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) invasion has become a global challenge which has had significant detrimental impacts on ecosystems and economies. A native of the Amazonian region, the free floating water weed has spread to most parts of the world. In Zimbabwe, its invasion of Lake Chivero and Manyame River systems has been well documented along with the resulting problems it has created. Water hyacinth has also infested other regions of the country including Shagashe River in the Masvingo Province. In this paper we outline a proposed site specific integrated management plan for the control of water hyacinth along Shagashe River. This has been formulated by way of reviewing published literature, consultations with various experts, stakeholders and pre-surveys done on various locations along the river. The programme entails timing of control measures to take advantage of the natural flooding of the river during the rainy season. The flooding removes the bulk of the water hyacinth and to avoid reinfestation, physical removal and biological control of the remnant water hyacinth is proposed. Various treatment methods are proposed to prevent nutrient enrichment in the river after having had identified the major sources of pollutants. Disposal of the removed hyacinth has also been discussed. Continuous monitoring by the responsible authorities and a multi-stakeholder water hyacinth monitoring committee is recommended concurrently with the enforcement of revised legal instruments.


INTRODUCTION
Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a free floating aquatic plant widely regarded by many as one of the most highly invasive weeds in the world (van Wyk & van, Wilgen 2002;Tegene et al., 2012).Water hyacinth grows rapidly doubling in population within a 5 -15 day period (Craft et al., 2003) and has average yields of 100 to 140 tonnes dry matter, per hectare per annum (Gunnarsson & Peterson, 2007).The weed grows optimally in warm temperature range of 28 to 30ºC (Knipling, West, & Haller, 1970) and nutrient rich environments (Reddy, Agami, & Tucker, 1989) where the water flow is slow to stagnant.It forms thick dense impenetrable floating mats on water surfaces.While vegetative propagation is the most pronounced form of reproduction for the plant, it also produces thousands of seeds per inflorescence with these having been reported to have remained viable for over 20 years (Mathews, Manson, & Coffey, 1977) and 28 years (Sullivan & Wood, 2012).Thick mats formed by the plant have significant effects on biodiversity (Sullivan & Wood 2012, Jones 2009).The high transpiration rate can cause loss of water from water bodies up to six times more compared to normal water surface evaporation (Pieterse, 1978).
The aquatic macrophyte, a native to the Amazonian region in Brazil, has spread to most tropical and subtropical parts of the world including Africa, largely owing to its attractive flowers and ornamental uses.The water plant is reported to have been present in Zimbabwe as early as the 1940's (Magadza, 2008) and has subsequently spread to other parts of the country including Shagashe River in the Masvingo Province (Mapira & Mungwini, 2005).It is widely prevalent in the country's major water bodies which include Lake Chivero and Manyame located in the south-easterly part of the capital city, Harare (Chikwenhere, 2001).A key accelerant in the explosive nature for its proliferation on some of the country's major water bodies is the high concentration of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrates prevailing in most of them.This is largely attributed to the failure of local city councils to control water pollution by raw sewerage (Magadza, 2008) and consequently has seen the plant continuing to thrive despite several measures being taken to control its invasion.
In an endeavour to try and curb its spread across the country, several control measures have been set up.In July 2000, the Zimbabwean government set up the Zimbabwe Aquatic Weed Management Committee with a mandate to monitor and implement measures to control the spread of water weeds in the country (Chikwenhere, 2001) including water hyacinth.Different techniques to have been employed include biological, mechanical and chemical control (Chikwenhere, 2001).Biological agents that have been used this far include the Neochetina weevils whose introduction made a sound impact on the weed cover on Lake Chivero in the 1980's and the Manyame River systems (Chikwenhere, 2001).Chemical control has been mainly dominated by the use of herbicides such as 2.4-Dichlorophenoxacetic acid.While this had some marked short term effects, it has been reported to have been linked to an increase in the number of still borne births in the city of Harare (Magadza, 2008) and its high cost and environmental concerns led to research on the use of other alternative control means such as biocontrol (Chikwenhere, 2001).Despite all these commendable efforts, water hyacinth largely remains triumphant in this battle as evidenced by the fact that to date it is still one of the most dominant water weeds in the country and its infestation continues to grow.The country is reported in the local media to require in excess of million dollars annually to control its spread.
Water hyacinth's invasion can have detrimental impacts at economical and ecological level.While in Zimbabwe measures have been set up to try and control its spread, these have not had significant long lasting impacts.It has been observed that most of these measures being implemented are responsive and not preventative.Moreover, there seems to be not much that has been done at research level to try and control flow of nutrients into rivers.This is possible a key control mechanisms that could eventually lead to significant reduction of the weed population on local rivers, lakes and dams.There also seems no attempt has been made to date to try and manage seeds which are a source of infestation and re-infestation.This study aims to propose and assess an integrated approach to the control and management of water hyacinth infestation on the river.To the best of our knowledge, little has been done to try and curb the growth of hyacinth on the river.Most literature suggests a bias towards its control on Lake Chivero and the Manyame River systems.The paper presents a site specific integrated management framework that could be adopted by the relevant authorities and implemented to control water hyacinth infestation on Shagashe River to manageable levels.

METHODOLOGY AND DESCRIPTION OF STUDY AREA
Information and data on issues relating to proposed integrated management approach to the control of water hyacinth was gathered by way of doing a thorough literature review, consultations with various experts and experience of the authors.Pre-surveys and quantitative data were collected from various locations along the river.Fig. 1   Shagashe River drains into Lake Mutirikwi which is the largest inland lake in the country.It contributes to the source of water for the city of Masvingo and the lucrative sugar irrigation plantations within the Chiredzi district.Shagashe River runs through the city where it joins up with one of its tributaries, Mucheke River, which cuts across the town flowing through the industrial areas and eventually joining Shagashe on the outskirts of the city.

PROPOSED PROGRAMME
The invasion of water hyacinth on most water bodies in Zimbabwe is largely a result of a combination of a number of different and accumulative factors.These include high concentration of nutrients, absence of natural enemies, its use for ornamental purposes and failure on the part of responsible authorities to implement sustainable ways to control the plant.These challenges cannot be accurately addressed using a single control mechanism.There is need for the implementation of a number of strategies that complement each other so as to effectively reduce water hyacinth infestation to its lowest possible levels possible which are manageable.An integrated management approach is one such system that has been reported to have been successfully utilised in some countries (Mallya, Mjema, & Ndunguru, 2001;Jones, 2001;Jones 2009).It provides a holistic approach towards the fight against water hyacinth invasion.Naser (1996) highlights the need to have area specific control programmes for an effective water hyacinth management system.We propose a programme that considers factors that influence water hyacinth density and cover and discusses ways to best manage it in Shagashe River.
Figure 2: Proposed integrated management programme for water hyacinth control in Shagashe River, Masvingo, Zimbabwe.

Flooding/Water Level Changes
Flooding has been observed to significantly remove hyacinth from water either by washing it downstream or onto the banks of rivers and lakes.Ramaprabhu et al. (1985) present a classical case study which shows the impact natural water fluctuation had on water hyacinth infestation on a highly polluted reservoir in India.They observed a significant decline in hyacinth cover which initially was close to 80% and had been completely removed as a result of the increase in water levels in the reservoir at the onset of the rainy season.Water depth during this time had increased from a mean depth of 1m to 10m respectively (Ramaprabhu et al., 1985).They also point out that such events are cyclical with the highly resilient hyacinth likely to re-emerge as the water levels decrease.A similar pattern on the effect in the change of water levels on hyacinth cover has been observed on Shagashe River (Fig 3).From Fig 3 it can be observed that there is a marked decline in the water hyacinth infestation on the river.The hyacinth is largely being washed onto the banks of the river where it subsequently dries off (Fig 4).This cyclical pattern has been observed over the past years and it only occurs during the wet season when the rains start falling heavily.Of importance is to note that, while the removal is tremendous, there still remain some patches of the aquatic macrophyte which re-infest the river as we move into the dry season.It should also be noted that in some sections of the river the water hyacinth is not effectively removed by flooding or increased water levels.This is mainly due to gentle gradient and the presence of some vegetation that holds water and significantly reduces velocity, which plays a key role in washing away the hyacinth.Ramaprabhu et al. (1985) suggest that increase in water levels or flooding can be taken as a great opportunity to manage hyacinth infestation on the reservoir.They indicate that this could be done by way of A B C D constantly removing hyacinth as it re-infests the river as the water levels decrease.A similar strategy can be adopted for Shagashe River.Soon after the onset of the rainy season when a significant water hyacinth cover has been removed, there is a need to make a follow up to remove the remaining small vegetation of the weed.It is observed that most such remnant infestation is along the banks of the river.This could be removed manually.We propose concentrating the 4km stretch of the river in the upper course close to the source of pollution which makes it feasible for routine manual and mechanical removals that can be done at a frequency of once in every month during the rainy season.We assume that the downstream infested areas will gradually benefit from the spill over effects of the treatments done on this upstream section.The routine removal will get less frequent as we move into the dry season.The environmental management principles such as the polluter pays principle may be modified to ensure that the polluters do not only pay but actively participate in the water hyacinth routine removal process.
Biological agents such as weevils can be also introduced onto the remaining sites covered with water hyacinth.This will ensure continued suppressive pressure on the hyacinth which eventually will bring it down to manageable levels.Where possible, booms can be erected on river channel points where hyacinth is present.These act as physical barriers that contain the hyacinth in a fixed area preventing its spread on the river.

Nutrients Control
Nutrient requirement has been highlighted as one of the factors that affect the growth of water hyacinth (Reddy et al., 1989).The water weed is known to thrive in environments where the water is highly polluted with sewerage waste material which is normally rich in phosphates and nitrates.It is therefore, paramount to keep nutrient levels low to prevent proliferation of the water hyacinth.Mallya et al. (2001) report that the identification of sources discharging nutrients into Lake Victoria in Tanzania is one of the vital steps that led to 70% reduction of water hyacinth cover.They highlight that nutrient enrichment was controlled by way of constructing wetlands.
The main sources of pollutants flowing into Shagashe River have been identified as the city council sewer treatment plant and the Masvingo Teachers College sewer ponds (Mapira & Mungwiri, 2005).River bank cultivation within the Rujeko suburb in Masvingo Town could also be contributing some nutrients.The city council sewer pump station has been observed to discharge raw sewer into the river an event which they attribute to the frequent electrical power cuts (Fig 5).As a way of minimising raw sewer discharge into the river, wetlands can be constructed in which raw or treated sewer will pass through for further treatment prior to being discharged into the river (Fig 5 ) from the treatment plant.The effectiveness of artificial wetlands in the removal of nitrates and phosphates has been well documented by different scholars.Juang and Chen (2007) observed a 47% decrease in ammonium nitrogen concentration in river water treated by an artificial wetland.In another study done by Lu et al. (2007) a constructed wetland managed to decrease nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations by 21.7% and 23% respectively.This was for the purification of nutrient filled duck farm wastewater.Nitrogen removal within the wetlands is by way of plant absorption and the various processes which are part of the nitrogen cycle such as denitrification (Vymazal, 2007;Sooknah, 2002).Phosphate removal is mainly by absorption by plants (Sooknah, 2002).Wetlands can also be utilised to remediate polluted water flowing in a stream.These are what are known as diversion wetlands (Mitsch, 2005).Water flowing in the river is diverted to flow past an adjacent wetland where it is treated prior to being channelled back into the river (Mitsch, 2005).Such a system can be employed for Shagashe River where a river diversion wetland is constructed ideally upstream where the water could flow by gravitational force into the wetland.It will be treated and eventually getting back to the main river channel again gravitationally which will imply less cost implications.
In-stream wetlands are yet another form of wetlands that can be utilised.One way of doing this will be by having artificial floating islands.These are floating platform matrices which support vegetation (Fig 4).They are placed on water surfaces with the roots submerged in the water (Stewart, Mulholland, Cunningham, Kania, & Osterlund, 2008).The effectiveness of artificial wetlands in remediating polluted aquatic environments has been examined and reviewed by Nakamura and Muller (2008).They indicate that other than performing well in treating polluted waters, the islands also enhance habitat of aquatic species and birds as well as providing beautiful landscape features in the water.Ideally these can be placed in sections of the river where weir bridges have been constructed.Such points have low river water velocity implying increased contact time between the plants on the islands and the nutrients in the water and hence increased removal rate.Shagashe River has been observed to have weir bridges both up and downstream, artificial floating islands can be placed on these points and if need be, more could still be constructed.

Removal of nutrients by use of activated carbon, bone char and sand.
From an experimental point, we propose the investigation of in situ river water treatment by use of bone char, activated carbon and sand packaged in bags.Bone char is granular material produced by the burning of bones at a high temperature in a controlled environment in which oxygen content is very low.Major components of bone char are calcium phosphate (Hydroxyapatite), calcium carbonate and carbon (about 10%) (Guedes, 2007).The carbon is distributed throughout the porous structure of the hydroxyapatite (Rezaee, 2011).The mechanism of function is by adsorption, ion-exchange reactions and entrapment of particles within the pores of the structure.The ability of bone char to remove endotoxins (Rezaee, 2009), in colour and turbidity removal in the sugar refining process and heavy metals (Guedes, 2007;Wilson, Pulford, & Thomas, 2003;Cheung, McKay, & Porter, 2000) have been documented.After use, the bone char can be washed with water to remove inorganic material and burned to remove all carbon material allowing it to be reused over a number of cycles.
Activated carbon is carbon produced from carbon sources such as coal, wood (www.wikipedia.com) and water hyacinth (Rashwan and Girgis, 2004;Varghese, Vinoid and Anirudham, 2004).It encompasses highly porous large surface carbon derived material (Cecen, 2011).It can be produced by physical reactivation and chemical activation (www.wikipedia.com).Impurities are removed by way of adsorption whereby they adhere to the surface of the activated carbon.It has got a large surface area which allows it to remove a great number of impurities.Activated carbon has been successfully utilised to remove phosphates (Bhargava and Sheldakar, 1993a;Bhargava and Sheldakar, 1993b) and nitrates (Sato, Muranyama, Nakai, & Takanashi, 1995;Ozturk & Bekitas, 2004).Activated carbon too just like bone char can be regenerated for reuse over many cycles.
A combination of bone char, activated carbon and sand we believe should be capable of treating the river water removing impurities such as nitrates, phosphates, heavy metals, turbidity, suspended and dissolved solids and chlorides.An ideal set up would be to line up bags filled with bone char, activated carbon and sand across the Shagashe channel so that water gets filtered as it passes through them (Fig 7).The advantage is these can be removed and replaced easily if needed to.The weir bridge will serve to reduce the water velocity hence ensuring increased contact time between the water and the adsorbents.A suggested experimental approach will be that first these adsorbents will need to be evaluated at lab scale to examine the efficacy in pollutant removals.These will then be scaled up trying to simulate water flow in the river and to get a good idea on how they will perform onsite.Further pilot studies can be done using either canals or water diverted from the river and finally carrying out a full scale study in stream.Water hyacinth removed from the stream can also be converted to activated carbon and used in the treatment process.To the best of our knowledge such a treatment regime has not been documented and should it work we believe it could be adopted in other highly polluted rivers elsewhere.
Figure 7: Illustration of layout of filter bags in the Shagashe River.Polluted water passes through the filtration setup in stream where it is treated.

Biological Control
As an alien species in Zimbabwe, water hyacinth is void of its natural enemies.One long lasting and sustainable way of controlling hyacinth infestation is by way of importing its natural enemies from its native area and releasing them on the plant (Julien, 2001).This method of control is called biological control.This has been successfully utilised in Tanzania where it was used as part of an integrated management control system that successfully led to the reduction of water hyacinth cover by 70% (Mallya et al., 2001).Zimbabwe has too successfully managed to utilise biological control in managing water hyacinth (Chikwenhere, 2001).This has been through the utilisation of the two Neochetina weevils (Chikwenhere, 2001).This however, seems to have been a temporary victory as evidenced by the continued thrive of this resilient water weed.
The implementation of a long lasting successful biocontrol programme rests on the influence of a number of factors.In their paper on biocontrol projects for water hyacinth in South Africa, Hill and Olckers (2001), highlight some of the factors that affect the effectiveness of biocontrol.Climate variability is one such factor.This affects the population of the weevils due to the decline of water hyacinth moving into the winter season (Hill & Olckers, 2001).Coming off the winter season, the water weed population increases at a more rapid rate compared to the weevils.This lagging ultimately leads to failure of the weevils to increase to densities that could substantially suppress the spread of the weed prior to the onset of the next cold season (Hill & Olckers, 2001).Other parameters that have been reported to have an impact on biocontrol are the eutrophic state of the water bodies and the use of herbicides to control water hyacinth (Hill & Olckers, 2001).
Seasonal variability and use of herbicides could be some of the factors that have led to the failure of a sustainable long-term control of water hyacinth by biocontrol in Zimbabwe.To ensure that a lasting and effective biocontrol regime is implemented for Shagashe River, there must be a Neochetina weevil rearing exercise within the Masvingo area.Such community based weevil programmes have been reported to have led to the eradication of a significant hyacinth population (Mallya et al., 2001).A similar strategy could be adopted.Great Zimbabwe University, Makoholi Research Institute, Masvingo Polytechnic and Mushandike College of Wildlife Management could be used as rearing sites for the beetles.These will then be released as required to augment numbers already in the field.Such continued release into the fields will ensure continued suppression and pressure on the hyacinth leading to significant reduction on its proliferation.Augmentation can be done during winter going into the summer season so as to maintain high numbers of the beetles to effectively control the reinfesting hyacinth recovering from weather induced suppression.Small remaining infested areas after a significant component of the hyacinth has been reduced by flooding events can also be targeted as sites for weevil release.Upstream augmentation will also need to be done considering that the weevils will be washed downstream.

Bags filled with bone char, activated carbon
Water flowing in the river through the filtration bags Weir Bridge

Infestation/Re-infestation by Seeds
Water hyacinth reproduces both sexually and asexually (Sullivan & Wood, 2012;Barret, 1980).This multiple reproductive nature of this invasive weed makes its effective control even more elusive.Sexual reproduction is by the production of seeds when the plant flowers while asexual is by the extension of stolons forming new plants joined to the parent plant hence forming a "mart".Water hyacinth seeds are equally resilient as the plants.They have been reported to have remained dormant for up to 28 years (Sullivan & Wood, 2012).This has large scale implications on the control of hyacinth infestation.While programmes could be implemented that can successfully eradicate the plants, failure to address the impact of seeds could lead to the re-infestation of the water by the weed.This has been reported to have happened in a lagoon in Brisbane, Australia by Sullivan and Wood (2001).A successfully eradicated hyacinth infestation remerged 28 years later in the lagoon after the last had been removed through chemical control.Seeds buried under the water have been identified as the most likely source of the new infestation (Sullivan & Wood, 2012).Sullivan and Wood (2012) emphasise the need to understand factors which break the dormancy of hyacinth seeds and how this could be used in the control of the plant.Some factors that have been shown to lead to breaking the seed dormancy include exposure to high temperatures, increased light radiation, exposure to alternate wetting and drying conditions, shallow waters and oxidation of the seeds (Sullivan & Wood, 2012).Sullivan and Wood (2012) suggest the exposure of seeds by way of draining water at a site of infestation.This ultimately would lead to the germination of the seeds when the site is recovered by water.New infestation can be subsequently removed by way of manual, biological or chemical control before inflorescence.This will ultimately lead to the exhaustion of the plant seed bank.A similar strategy can be adopted for Shagashe River which naturally tends to dry out in some parts during the dry season.In some sections it has been observed that the water depth is shallow and the flow is narrow.This could be further narrowed by way of creating small channels on this section of the river hence exposing more seeds at the bottom.Furthermore, construction of in-stream dams can be done so as to ensure control of water flow across the river.Water flow can be temporarily stopped hence allowing seeds to be exposed.These sites could be then followed up on so as to remove the new plants as they re-infest the river.

Physical Control
There are basically two types of physical control, manual and mechanical both offering temporary short term control of the water hyacinth (Labrada, 1996).Manual control entails the use of labour to remove the hyacinth growth from water bodies.It is regarded as being labour intensive with huge financial implications (Labrada, 1996).However, its intermittent use can be strategically and effectively utilised in the control of the aquatic macrophyte.This can only be utilised for small infestations.Mechanical control involves the use of machinery such as harvesters and boats to remove hyacinth and is normally used for large infestations (Terry, 1996;Labrada, 1996).Both control mechanisms have been reported to have been successfully utilised in integrated management programmes (Jianqing et al., 2001;Mallya et al., 2001).
A physical control programme could be used for Shagashe River.The cost implications associated with is use could be averted by ad hoc usage and not full scale permanent use.Manual removal can be best applied at points which have been observed to be shallow during the dry seasons where people can easily walk in and pull out water hyacinth by hand.Local unskilled labour and voluntary environmental organisations can be used for this purpose.Mechanical control by use of boats can be done for sections of the river observed to be very deep and where the water flow is heavy which may pose a risk to people.It may also be necessary to look into adopting a viable economic model to sustain the physical removal of water hyacinth in the river.This could be done through its utilisation as animal feed, biogas production, paper manufacture and charcoal production.

Disposal of Removed Water Hyacinth
The disposal of the removed hyacinth is as important and final step in the integrated management of the weed.It needs to be well thought out as improper dumping could be a source of new challenges such as methane production.There are multitudes of ways in which the plant can be disposed off of which some can be of economic value.These include their use in making craft (Fig 4), as animal feed (Baldwin, Hentges & Bagnall, 1974;Lindsey & Hirt, 2000), biogas production (Alomoustapha, Kenfack & Millogo-Rasolodimby, 2009) and compost production (Abdalla & Hafeez, 1969).The economy of Masvingo Province is largely driven by tourism due to the presence of a world heritage site, The Great Zimbabwe Monuments, and the Gonarezhou National Park which is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.The craft industry already exists and a market for the products is available.Water hyacinth craft would therefore be a viable option that can be considered.Local crafts men can be trained on how to use the hyacinth in making the furniture which they could sell.A successful economic model of this nature will ensure sustained removal of the aquatic plant from the river.Lessons could be drawn from projects in other African countries such as the Water Hyacinth Utilisation Project in Kisumu, Kenya.Established in 1997, the project had over 60 employees producing water hyacinth products (Lindsey & Hirt, 2000).Its use as cattle feed can also be looked into.The major driving force is the fact that the province lies in a low rainfall area making access to feeding pastures a major challenge to farmers.Hence farmers can look into using it for feeding their animals and also composting it and applying it for organic farming projects.Considering the erratic supply of electricity in the country, biogas utilisation is worth considering.The best approach will be to use it for centralised co-digesters which can serve nearby institutes such as Great Zimbabwe University or Masvingo Teachers College who can use the produced gas for their respective dining hall cooking purposes.

Monitoring
This is a critical step in trying to control infestations.The need to have a monitoring system has been recommended by Neser (1996).It helps in the evaluation of current employed strategies assisting all concerned parties to make informed decisions in the fight against the weed.Monitoring starts by doing baseline studies which aim to establish the indicators that are routinely measured and assessed to determine progress with regards the success of different control and management approaches.It helps in identifying and prioritising areas most prone to weed infestation and hence ensuring they are closely monitored and promptly controlled using the appropriate method.The monitoring programme also helps in the setting up of realistic and achievable targets for the control of water hyacinth.The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) can take a leading role in this exercise with possible assistance from multi-stakeholder water hyacinth committee.

Policy Evaluation and Formulation
For the successful implementation of the integrated approach, there is need to make sure local environmental policies are in sync with strategies being used.For example it may be necessary to look into making it illegal for local households to have water hyacinth in their pools, ponds, nutrition gardens or any other places.These could serve as sources for future re-infestation of the river.Evaluation and revision of the current environmental management principles and instruments is necessary to ensure the achievement of the intended objective of protecting the river from pollution.For example, the polluter pays principle may include payment for remedial work by the polluter and active participation in the remedial process.The polluter may be given a time frame for coming up with an effective strategy of managing wastes or else operating license is withdrawn or face prosecution.
There is need to set up a multi-stakeholder committee with the mandate of managing, suggesting and implementing the necessary identified mechanisms and strategies to control hyacinth, setting up targets and evaluating progress and formulating the necessary regulations and policies.Committee members could be drawn from the various stakeholders including the Masvingo City Council, EMA, Mutirikwi Sub-catchment Council, ZimParks, Zimbabwe National Water Authority, residents association, industry and the various tertiary institutions in the province.The Zimbabwe government has already taken the initiative in forming one such committee for the country (Chikwenhere, 2001).Such a local level subcommittee would be complementing the efforts of the national committee coming up with area specific control packages.

CONCLUSION
A well thought and designed water hyacinth management plan is a vital tool in the control of the aquatic plant.The paper has outlined a proposed Shagashe River integrated water hyacinth management approach.This when implemented we believe will significantly reduce water hyacinth cover to manageable levels.The approach largely revolves around taking advantage of flooding induced reduction of the water weed with follow ups made to remove remnants physical and biologically.The removed hyacinth can be disposed in an economically viable way such as production of craft, use as animal feed, composting and biogas production.Nutrients, which are needed for the growth of the plant, can be removed by constructing artificial wetlands.There is need to have a thorough monitoring system that will do baseline studies and evaluate progress with regards to techniques being utilised in the management programme.Such monitoring activity could be the responsibility of a proposed local committee with a mandate to oversee control measures being implemented in an effort to control water hyacinth invasion in Masvingo Province.Periodic evaluation of the proposed strategies will effectively add value to the proposed approach.
shows the location map of the proposed intervention area (Between point A and B on Fig 1).The proposed intervention area constitutes a 4 km stretch along Shagashe River in Masvingo district, Zimbabwe.This runs from a point next to the City Council sewer treatment plant upstream to a downstream location near Masvingo Teachers College.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Map of Shagashe River in Masvingo, Zimbabwe.(Adapted and modified from: Moyo & Mapira, 2012)Shagashe River drains into Lake Mutirikwi which is the largest inland lake in the country.It contributes to the source of water for the city of Masvingo and the lucrative sugar irrigation plantations within the Chiredzi district.Shagashe River runs through the city where it joins up with one of its tributaries, Mucheke River, which cuts across the town flowing through the industrial areas and eventually joining Shagashe on the outskirts of the city.

Figure 3 :
Figure3: Photo A and B were taken on two different points on the Shagashe Bridge and at a point within the Morningside residential area in Masvingo respectively.These were taken in the month of January 2013 after the onset of the rain season.Photos C and D were taken from same spot as A and B respectively in the month of October 2012 prior to the onset of the rains.It's evident that the rains have washed off the hyacinth from both portions of the river.There are small patches of the hyacinth that remain on the banks of the river.

Figure 4 :
Figure 4: Dry water hyacinth residues (shown by the yellow arrows) washed off the river onto the banks due to flooding.

Figure 5 :
Figure5: Shagashe River passing through Rujeko Suburb in Masvingo Town, Zimbabwe.Major sources of nutrient flow into the river are raw sewer which comes in from the Pump Station, sewer from the Treatment Plant and fertilisers used in stream bank cultivation.Sewer coming in from treatment plants can be further subjected to more treatment by constructing wetlands in which waste will pass through before it's discharged into the river.Nutrients which flow directly from pump station and fields into the river can be removed by artificial floating islands.