ahore’s underground water is drinkable, but it’s fast depleting thanks to the mass migration from nearby towns and cities of people who come here in search of livelihood and a better life than they have in their home towns.

Private town planners believe that the city loses its underground water recharging capacity the minute we lay concrete on its land. According to them, new roads and building infrastructure are putting an extra pressure on the underground water aquifer.

There’s an urgent need to sensitise the citizens about how to avoid unnecessary use of drinking water. The people need to adopt ways to use its underground water smartly and efficiently, so that the precious resource can be conserved.

For its part, the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), which is the main water provider for the city, has introduced stringent policies with regard to use of underground water.

Earlier, the Agency sought to sensitise the masses about smart use of drinking water and highlighted ways to conserve water. Besides, it introduced the idea of conserving rainwater by constructing underground water reservoirs. Through this the underground water aquifer is charged. The stored water can be used for gardening and firefighting purposes.

“Nature has blessed us with abundant water, but extraordinary population growth has resulted in a decline in the availability of per-capita drinking water,” says Ghufran Ahmed, the WASA managing director.

A landmark step taken by the WASA to control excessive use of underground water is the introduction of reuse of ablution water at 200-odd mosques in and around the city. Used ablution water is transferred to nearby parks for gardening purposes, due to which the water pumping by Parks and Horticulture Authority has declined significantly.

He claims that the annual drop in Lahore’s underground water aquifer was up to 1 metre per annum three years ago. “Since then it hasn’t dropped because the WASA has introduced several effective ways to save the underground water.”

Calling it a big achievement, Ahmed says that maintaining minimum and maximum levels of the underground water aquifer means that the life of Lahore’s underground water aquifer has been extended. “If the depletion in underground water continues, then in the coming years the city may witness water scarcity,” he adds.

When asked to detail the steps taken by WASA to check the depletion of underground water, Ahmed says, “As a first step, we launched a licensing system and imposed aquifer charges. This reduced the use of excessive water pumping being carried out by tubewells in private sector/ private housing societies.

“Next, we introduced recycling of water used in car wash at 310 service stations in Lahore. Heavy fines are imposed on the car washing units that don’t install water recycling plants. Every car wash unit in Lahore has their own water recycling plant.”

He also speaks of WASA teams conducting random inspections.

Another landmark step taken by the WASA to control excessive use of underground water is the introduction of reuse of ablution water at nearly 200 mosques in and around the city. Used ablution water is transferred to nearby parks for gardening purposes. Due to this water pumping by Parks and Horticulture Authority has decreased significantly.

The WASA has also limited and rescheduled the operating hours for its tubewells.

TNS talked to a number of citizens who acknowledged the importance of conserving underground water but didn’t know what alternatives they had if they wanted to wash their cars, porches and ramps etc.

Attique Rehman, a private town planner, has the answer. He says that the citizens may use water sprinkling system for their gardens, or they may build underground rainwater storage tanks. The stored rainwater can be used to wash cars and ramps.

According to the WASA managing director, the Agency has engaged Dolphin Force to check water waste due to ramp and car washing in residential, commercial and industrial areas. “Dolphin Force officials patrol the city and share pictures of water wastage. Live location is WhatsApped as evidence. The WASA then imposes fines on violaters.”

The Agency is also planning to install more water meters in the city to discourage unnecessary use of water.

The writer is a senior reporter at The News