MIDDLETOWN – The invasive water chestnut species is ruining the health of the City of Middletown’s reservoirs, and to battle that, the city has purchased a boat that allows city employees to go out into the reservoirs and remove the plants before they do any more damage.
The city bought the boat only about a month ago and it has been deployed every day since then scooping up the plants, said Public Works Commissioner Jacob Tawil.
“A couple of more weeks and we will be done harvesting all of the water chestnut that has been invading that was taking over our reservoir, dangerously covering it so the sun would not be able to go through the water, potentially making it septic, and then we would have a reservoir in reach trouble,” he said. “So, this will so far save us.”
Tawil said next summer, they will start earlier in the season to gather up the seeds before they spread and bloom.
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