Lahore faces increasing water woes with depleting groundwater
Dec 12, 2021
Lahore [Pakistan], December 12 : Lahore faces increasing water woes with depleting groundwater as it tries to find ways to mitigate the looming droughts.
Claiming the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project is the only way to mitigate the looming droughts and the potential threat to the already depleting groundwater of Lahore and the surrounding areas, according to a report submitted by the Punjab government to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to the Dawn.
The Ravi Urban Development Authority (Ruda)'s Chief Executive Officer Imran Ali informed the Pakistan Prime Minister that the Ravi project would transform of the river into a perennial fresh water body having enough capacity to pass extreme floods and save the provincial metropolitan facing an "existentialist threat".
Further, officials while discussing the factors necessitating the Ravi project, said the construction of MR Link Canal served as a "bypass" for Lahore.
"While we [in Pakistan] are still busy evolving consensus on our water-related projects and replying to courts, the trans-boundary side [India] is making actual progress," the report mentions.
Earlier, the report warned that given the situation, the river, which is a major contributor to groundwater recharge, is inching towards an "existential crisis" for Lahore.
Further, after the drastic gradual decrease in the river flows, the report says, there is a net shortage of almost 600 million cubic meters of groundwater recharge per year, ultimately resulting in 1.2 meters per year average decline in groundwater levels, according to the Dawn.
The report further added that drastic measures are not taken, Lahore may face situations where people have to stand in long queues to get a few gallons of potable water.
