Water Hyacinth: Uses and Threats

• Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is an aquatic weed from Brazil, now found on all continents except Antarctica.
• Water Hyacinth, called "Water Lily" by Filipinos, is considered the earth's most productive plant and was introduced worldwide, including the Philippines, as a garden pond plant.
• Despite its beauty, Water Hyacinth is a menace, threatening aquatic species' survival, but it has been turned into a lucrative crop in some areas.
• The Santa Rosa Livelihood Organization in Laguna, led by Belen Acuña, produces various products from water hyacinth, including wallets and coin banks.
• Using water hyacinth helps reduce plastic usage and reduces the plant in fishing areas.
• Turning water hyacinths into unique merchandise is a potential solution and handicrafts made by locals are exported to Europe and Asia.
• Water hyacinth contributes to city flooding, posing an invasive threat to biodiversity, and increasing in Taguig metro waterways.
• Excessive water hyacinth growth is a global threat where decreased oxygen levels in water can lead to global warming and economic challenges for communities reliant on aquatic animals for income.
• Eco-friendly manufacturing and use of water hyacinth can significantly affect a sustainable green economy.
• The study aims to determine the potential of water hyacinth as tourism merchandise, contributing eco-friendly options to solve the invasive plant problem and suggest more business products in the tourism industry.
• Tourism trends toward sustainability require merchandise that reflects local culture and environmental responsibility.

Problem Statement

• The study aims to determine the potential use of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in tourism merchandise, exploring sustainable and profitable products for tourists.
• Research questions include determining the level of acceptability of water hyacinth as tourism merchandise on accessibility, local business, eco-friendliness and promotion and also what suggestions to be made based on research findings.

Study Significance

• The study assesses the potential of water hyacinth as tourism merchandise and different products are produced by localities to promote their places.
• Tourism industry students can acquire knowledge regarding the potential of water hyacinth as merchandise.
• Tourists can gain insights into merchandise made from water hyacinths as souvenirs.
• Researchers gain knowledge about the potential of water hyacinth as tourism merchandise.
• Future researchers gain assistance for research connected with water hyacinth as tourism merchandise.
• The study contributes to understanding the use and contribution of water hyacinth to tourism merchandise as a primary business activity.

Study Scope

• A quantitative study focuses on analyzing respondents' perceptions of water hyacinth as tourism merchandise.
• Respondents include students of STI College Balagtas, Bulacan, enrolled in the 2024-2025 school year.
• The gender or social status of the respondents is not considered. -The effectiveness of government laws in assessing the potential of water hyacinth as tourism merchandise in Balagtas, Bulacan is not assessed.
• The researcher will distinguish how it is made up and popular in an area, as well as what the value of this product should be to coffee shops or other types of businesses.

Circular Economy Theory

• Theory reduces waste and pollution through recycling.
• Turns unwanted water hyacinth into useful tourist products.
• Assessing water hyacinth minimizes waste, keeps resources in use, creates economic opportunities, and supports environmental conservation.

Local Literature

• Discussed water hyacinth-based absorbents for oil spills that underscore that the absorbents are among the best materials to minimize impacts of oil spills.
• Bio-absorbents could atone for environmental upset and stop further oil spills, a look at the different ways the plant can be of help.
• Invasive flowering plants and water hyacinths have severely impacted the environment in nations like the Philippines, especially in Metro Manila, increasing the risk of floods.
• A rapid growth of thick mats obstructs sunlight, lowering oxygen levels and damaging fish and native plants as well as other aquatic life.
• Local government has converted water hyacinths into goods like woven bags in Taguig City, giving locals a source of income, and the Metals Industry Research and Development Center created a harvesting device.
• Plastic pollution decomposes slowly, is a major environmental hazard, and plastic bag garbage growth worsen waste management problems, so water ecosystems are impacted by water hyacinth.
• Harvesters regulate water hyacinth growth to solve problems and the plant reduces deforestation as a sustainable resource for the production of biodegradable goods like paper and textiles.
• Water hyacinth stems are blended with paper pulp to make biodegradable garbage bags as an alternative to plastic that is considered acceptable, with a stronger resistance to ripping despite a little difference in thickness when compared to 100% water hyacinth.
• Blended garbage bags reduce both plastic pollution and the environmental impact.
• Hen eggshell and water hyacinth are biodegradable plastics commonly used because of versatility, durability, and low cost.
• Organic components, such as starch, decompose quickly without releasing toxic chemicals and determine the efficiency of strengthening elements in cassava starch-based biodegradable plastics.
• Adding water hyacinth increased bioplastics' durability, elasticity, and solubility while decreasing ductility and increasing eggshell decreased durability and elasticity improving ductility.
• By adjusting the amounts of eggshell and water hyacinth, biodegradable materials may be adapted to individual demands, giving an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional plastics.
• Water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes) is a dangerous invasive alien species with primary applications in wastewater bioremediation, eradication, and control.
• A systematic literature review (SLR) identified evidence of P. crassipes' use as a raw material for biodegradable products that focused on its biomass as a raw material for packaging, cardboard, paper, and other items.
• 19% of research publications suggested P. crassipes is an alternative fuel source.
• Study shows the need for more research into P. crassipes' potential as a sustainable substitute for manufacturing and marketing goods, such as handicrafts and biodegradable packaging and future studies should focus on producing different types of bioproducts and allocating funds to P. crassipes as a source for vegetable products.
• Cardona, Rizal declared a state of calamity in 2017 due to water hyacinth and the proposal of using water hyacinth in creating concrete bricks in Cardona is one alternative use of weeds material that received positive feedback among the community
• Preventive management of water hyacinth is more economical to lessen its effects than post-infestation management techniques, which have not worked, and there is currently a dearth of information regarding the Philippines' acceptable water hyacinth habitats.
• Management tactics include surveillance, monitoring and work uses Maximum Entropy to analyze the species distribution of water hyacinth to ascertain its possible appropriate habitats in the climates of today and tomorrow.
• Bodies of water across islands of the Philippines are vulnerable to invasion and future climatic scenarios will result in an expansion
• Human Footprint and Mean Annual Air Temperature are key factors.
• The fast development of water lilies (or water hyacinths) is caused environmental problems, such as the blocking of sunlight and oxygen in water, which can harm aquatic life and make transport via river difficult.
• Researchers recommended using water lilies as a base material for wallets, offering an environmentally friendly option.
• A study in Barangay Sto. Angel Sur, Santa Cruz, Laguna, assessed water lily-based wallets based on price, durability, and appearance.
• Study discovered an important connection between gender and health condition with the acceptance of products, however no significant difference was seen based on age.
• Water lily-based wallets may be a successful product in the business industry.
• Water hyacinth together with cassava starch can be used as the raw materials in creating art paper that will reduce the cutting of trees that leads to deforestation

Foreign Literature

• There was a review of a community based training program where they sought ways of turning the waste made by the giant water hyacinths into hand crafts with PKK women of Tambak Oso Village Sidoarjo using the concept of resource conservation and management.
• Empowered women in the community through name craftiness
• On a similar note, water hyacinth may potentially impact and grow on fishing communities, who rely on a free source of water and fish.
• The study suggests measures for containing its growth and its effects on the fishing-dependent societies with possibilities for sustainable usage of this flexible plant.
• Native to the Amazon Basin, water hyacinth is an invasive plant that has spread to more than 80 nations that causes serious environmental issues, so frequent monitoring of infestations is essential.
• There are recent developments in satellite technology offer chances for continuous monitoring that suggests multiple methods to enhance management strategies with creative economic applications for water hyacinth.
• A study suggests how well it can absorb oil; the benefits as an eco-friendly solution to the disposal of used cooking oil to realize waste management for the minimization of environmental pollution, and material utilization.
• Water hyacinth is known to degrade the environment severely and be expensive to maintain, especially in rural populations and presents significant opportunities with high temperatures, eutrophic conditions, and community involvement.
• The long-term success of control strategies is contingent upon continued community involvement, which provides WH control through stable revenue generation.
• The product needs to carry out product commercialization with innovation and marketing via social media, e-commerce and product innovation support, through the creation of unique and attractive new items.
• Handcrafts made from water hyacinth implementation findings cost between $55,000 and $65,000, while placemats cost between $24,000 and $30,000 in Indonedia.
• Indonesia and Jember promote via websites like Shopee, Bukalapak, Instagram, and TikTok. Aren Handicraft offers hampers to novel things like tissue holders.
• Ponds and other small bodies of water are common in urban areas, adding to the blue-green infrastructure and enhancing human health, as ornamental ponds are aimed at aesthetic enjoyment
• Evaluated ecosystem services that include water retention, phyot purification, cooling effect, and carbon sequestration and the majority these ponds are lacking function.
• They also fared poorly for the majority of the other ecosystem services that were looked into, in addition to being readily managed at a cheap cost to maximize biodiversity.
• A high water hyacinth percentage affects crop and livestock producers that lead to an agricultural production together with a major decline in fish production in Lake Tana.
• The focus invasive plant originated in the Eastern Mediterranean is known for its medical properties that blocks waterways for fishing as well as affecting tourism and navigation.
• Chemical methods must be taken with caution to produce biogas impact.

Research Methods

• Quantitative research can collect and analyze numerical data to make assumptions, averages, predictions, and test causal relationships, involving in-depth analysis with findings in a structured research report.
• Researchers use self made questionnaires that allows respondents to answer with providing a comprehensive overview in regard to the potential use of water hyacinth as tourism merchandise.
• Researchers chose Senior High School students from Balagtas to be the respondents.
• A small sample of 150 and above is carefully selected
• To obtain data, researchers use tools to measure variables with the goal of gathering information from a respondent/
• A survey questionnaire is a method to collect data from participants.
• The survey includes questions, as well as collecting, aggregating, and analyzing the responses.
• Researchers generate questionnaires that focus on accessibility, local business, eco-friendliness, promotion with a five questions on durability that focuses on the potential of water hyacinth for tourist merchandise.
• Market demand questionnaires will see market prominence in the market.
• Eco-friendliness emphasizes the ability of water hyacinths and promotion emphasizes the inherent value as it is a product worthy of attention.
• To gather data, researchers will self-made survey and ask permission
• Questionnaire provides technique to interact; the participant's information is confidential and be only used for research purposes only.

Data Analysis

• Researchers use frequency, percentage, and weighted mean to measure how many participate,
• Percentage shows a comparison to the total number of observations to get the average
• Percentage, researchers will calculate the frequency, divide it the total number of respondents multiply by 100% to indicate agreement.
• Likert scale: strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree to calculate the overall average.

Study Data

• The data was collected from 174 students in Balagtas to assess tourism merchandise of the following sections. There was:
• Accessibility
• Local Business
• Eco-friendliness'
• Promotion
• Students "generally agree with the product's accessibility" and the study shows "a consistent consensus among respondents regarding the positive impact" and enhances benefits for local tourism

Study In Conclusion

• Students generally agree on the accessibility of water hyacinth with the availability of raw materials in the locality.
• The study shows respondents strongly agree with enhancing local businesses.
• Most respondents agree the positive role had a positive effect on waterways.
• There was a general agreement for promotion with an overall view that showed an overall agreement regarding positive view

Reccomendation

• To maximize Water Hyacinth it is best to dry it thoroughly before using as coasters and place mats can enhance
• Advertisements promoting water hyacinth will attract more and support will also positively help the economy