Pakistan Region on Brink of Water Crisis (TheNationOnWeb)

Jan.09, 2009 in Drought, Pollution, Public Works, Water Crisis, Water Industry, Water Rights, Water Technology

(Jan. 7, 2009, The Nation On Web)

With the sharp decrease in the graph of underground drinking water, City will be facing a critical water shortage in coming months. If government does not take concrete steps to cope with the situation, a water crisis is in the offing.

Sources in Wasa said that according to a State Bank report, per capita water availability was declining due to sharp decrease in the underground water table. “The problem is worsening due to the combined impact of rising population, growing number of tubewells, lack of metering system, misuse of water on domestic and commercial basis, falling water flows and lowering trend to build underground water tanks in the buildings for water storage,” they added. They said that as the problem was on the rise, not only the Lahore but also southern Punjab districts of Multan, Bhalawalpur, Bahalwalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffer Garh, and Rahim Yar Khan had severely been affected by water shortage. Sources informed that as many as 800,000 tubewells installed in different parts of the province had been pumping 40 to 42 MAF water annually causing rapid decline of water table in the province. They said “there are more than 400 tubewells in the City pumping out thousands of gallon water daily. While 69 more tubewells, most of them replacement of outlived tubewells, are yet to be installed. The installation of tubewells was one of the major reasons behind the fall of underground water table, they added.

Wasa official seeking anonymity said that another dangerous aspect of decrease in the water table was that the upper surface of the earth was getting weaker. “That’s why cracks are appearing in several buildings of the Walled City. A thorough study needs to be carried out across the City to evaluate the actual repercussions of this phenomenon,” says the Wasa official.

He also alleged politicians for pressuring WASA to install more tubewells in their constituencies to extract water from rather a deeper level. He said that these politicians were bent upon getting political mileage at the cost of health of the people. He said that in many parts of Lahore such as the Walled City, the deeper we dig, the brighter would be the chances of getting water with arsenic and fluorine at a high ratio.

When contacted WASA MD Javed Iqbal underlined the need for adopting immediate measures to put an end to wastage of drinking water at commercial as well as industrial levels. He said that usage of drinking water for the purpose of washing, cleaning or watering plants at a large scale is the root-cause of wastage of drinking water, causing decrease in water table. He underscored the need of introducing the metering system to examine level of waste and consumption of water. He said that out of total 5,50,000 water connections, meters were installed on only 2,00,000 water connections. He said that the water table level in the City was decreasing by five and a half feet per year because a huge amount of drinking water is going wasted. Installation of new tubewells in different parts of the City was also aggravating the situation, he added. Moreover, it should be made mandatory for industries and car wash points in the City to install their own water recycling systems to avoid further wastage of drinking water, he maintained.
Trees and plants do not need clean water but Parks and Horticulture Authority and some other govt departments insanely waste hundreds of gallons of drinking water for watering plants on daily basis, he added. Sources in Planning and Development revealed that the Punjab govt was firming up a strategy to regulate underground drinking water. “The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered to provide financial and technical assistance,” they added. Sources said that the Punjab govt had constituted a committee comprising Chairman P&D, secretary housing, secretary irrigation, secretary local government and officials of Wasa in this regard.

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