The campaign to save Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest lake and the source of Nile river, from a dangerous weed is intensifying with the recent purchase of a modern machine by Global Coalition for Lake Tana Restoration, an organization that is formed by Ethiopians in the Diaspora.

The water weed, known as hyacinth, has so far consumed over 50,000 hectares of Lake Tana and growing.

The local government has mobilized 162,000 volunteers to fight off the invasive weed, but it has been a losing fight without applying modern machines, chemicals, and biological measures.