Lahore:
Large expanses of Lahore have been covered with concrete, preventing rainwater from naturally recharging underground aquifers, which exhaust quickly.
According to the irrigation Research Institute, instead of recharging 10-15 acres of water, only 1.5 million liters were artificially recharged by charging wells during the current monsoon, while the rest was exhausted in sewers and drains.
Dr. Zakir Hussain Siyal, Managing Director of the Institute, told L’Express PK Press Club that there is a insufficient recharge, the level of Lahore’s groundwater falls quickly from 1 to 4 feet per year in different areas.
In Gulberg, the water table went from 125 to 300 feet, while in other areas, it sank at 150 feet.
Drinking water is now as deep as 700 to 800 feet and even deeper in certain places, a large part of the upper water becoming brackish. To counter this, the ministry has installed 70 charging wells but the results remain inadequate.
With 1,500 to 1,800 tube well operating 24 hours a day in Lahore, the extraction of groundwater exceeds recharge. Dr. Siyal underlined the urgent need for artificial charging systems, underground dams and rainy water harvesting through green states, land and galleries.
“Without large-scale charging projects in schools, colleges, universities, housing companies and offices, the underground water level will reach dangerously low levels,” he said.
Artificial charging systems are methods designed to reconstruct underground aquifers by directing excess surface water, such as the runoff of storms or treated wastewater, in the soil by charging wells, infiltration basins or percolation tanks.
These systems improve the availability of groundwater, reduce the risk of subsident of land and help to manage water resources more permanently in areas confronted with exhaustion.
The underground dams are barriers built below the surface of the ground to block the natural flow of groundwater, allowing it to accumulate and create a hidden reservoir.
Rainwater harvest, on the other hand, is the practice of collecting and storing rainwater on roofs, cobbled areas or watersheds for subsequent use. Stored water can be used for irrigation, domestic needs or aquifers recharge, reducing dependence on municipal food.
