DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES AND PLANS TO COMBAT THE WATER STRESS CHALLENGES IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Lahore is a Mega Metropolitan City located in Punjab, Pakistan. With a population of 13 Million people, it is the second largest city in the country. It is located on the alluvial plain of the Indus basin at an altitude ranging between 682 ft to 698 ft above mean sea level. It is bounded by the Ravi River in the Northwest and Banbanwala- Ravi-Bedian-Depalpur (BRBD) Link Canal and its offtakes in the north and east. Ground-water is the only source for domestic, commercial, and industrial use in the city. The unplanned excessive pumpage of ground water is a constant threat to the Lahore aquifer, which is depleting rapidly (Ahmad, 1974; Rosemann, 2005). In 1947 the groundwater depth in Lahore city was 15 to 16 feet which has now depleted to about 150 feet that come to almost 2.50 feet per year. River Ravi has been the major source of freshwater recharging into the Lahore aquifer for millennia, but the hydrological scenario has radically changed over the last few decades (Qureshi and Sayed, 2013; Ahmad et al., 2002; NESPAK et al., 1987). The Indus Water Treaty of 1960 granted the neighboring country India exclusive rights over the three eastern rivers, including the River Ravi, as a result of which the flows into River Ravi started diminishing gradually. After the construction of Thein Dam on river Ravi in India during the year 2000, the flows in the river have drastically reduced, resulting in depleted recharge to the aquifer around the river. The factors responsible for the depletion of the Lahore aquifer have been enumerated and alternate sources to make up and sustain the water supplies to the metropolitan have been proposed.