Depleting Groundwater In The Lahore Area Pakistan

By: Khalid Zaka, Surrey, BC
The Times of India reported, “The flow of water from Ravi River to Pakistan has been completely halted with the completion of the Shahpur Kandi barrage.” Shahpur Kandi Barrage is situated on the border of Punjab, Jammu, and Kashmir. It is also perceived that the “Jammu and Kashmir region will now benefit from the 1150 cusecs of water that was previously allocated to Pakistan. The water will be used for irrigation purposes, benefiting over 32,000 hectares of land in the Kathua and Samba districts”. The complete stopping of River Ravi water has severe consequences for Lahore’s groundwater aquifer.
Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan, faces a pressing challenge rooted in the intricate framework of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) – the rapid and fearful depletion of groundwater resources. This historic Treaty regulates water distribution from the Indus River and its tributaries, significantly influencing Lahore’s reliance on groundwater for domestic, industrial, and agricultural needs.
In 1960, the Indus Waters Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan, and the World Bank aided it as a co-signatory. Under the Treaty’s provisions, the Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) are allocated to Pakistan, while the Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) are designated for India’s use. Additionally, the agreement permits specific uses by each country on the rivers allocated to the other. In the following section, an effort is made to identify potential factors contributing to groundwater depletion in the Lahore area.
POPULATION GROWTH
In 1961, the population of Lahore was 1,320,000. Lahore’s 2024 population is now estimated at 14,407,074. Population increase is an essential factor; however, it needs to be explored which segments of society use the dominant portion of water: are they the inhabitants of posh gated societies of Lahore or the ordinary Lahoris? What are the practicable sustainable solutions to halt the wastage of a precious natural resource, “Water.”
URBANIZATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
The fast-growing urbanization and infrastructure expansion in and around Lahore significantly impacted the groundwater recharge, increasing groundwater mining at an alarming rate. Urbanization and infrastructure cause barriers to surface runoff and reduce the soil’s water absorption capacity. Many people perceive that urbanization is a critical factor in the depletion of groundwater in the Lahore area. True but what causes the fast urbanization. Some thinks that the fast urbanization is related to the model of development initiated during the colonial period in the sub-continent.
Historically, the rural regions were self-sufficient (as in precolonial India), and production was in a closed cycle as all inputs were local and outputs were consumed locally. People had a strong bond with each other and nature. After colonizing India, colonial power brought fundamental changes in the agriculture sector of precolonial India. It brought a shift from cultivation for home consumption to cultivation for the market. Cash transactions became the basis of exchange and largely replaced the barter system. After partition in 1947, the policies set in the colonial period were not changed. A second major change was implemented in Pakistan under the green revolution technology. Because of the green revolution, farmers had to spend huge amounts of money to buy genetically modified seeds, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides, and they had to pay heavily to buy water to satisfy these seeds’ water requirements. The indigenous seeds did not require vast amount of water as they adapted to the ecological system. Because of the massive imbalance in the cost of the above-listed agriculture inputs and the low price of the produce, the farmers are being forced to leave their native villages to migrate to the urban centers.
AGRICULTURE DEPENDENCE ON GROUNDWATER
Agriculture’s dependence on groundwater for irrigation highlights the importance of adopting efficient practices. It has been reported that there is an increase in groundwater use through the tubewells. The historical data shows that in 1965, the no of tubewells in Pakistan was approximately 25,000 whereas, in 2002, the number of tubewells are approximately 627,000. The studies indicate that more than 60 percent of farmers in Punjab use groundwater as a supplemental source to augment canal water supplies. It manifests severe implications for the people of Pakistan and not only Punjab, but the entire country could face critical food shortages as Punjab alone delivers more than 90% of the total agricultural production in the country. An important point that needs to be understood is that the precolonial crop seeds were historically and ecologically well-adjusted with the soil, water, and rainfall patterns. The policy of commercial agriculture implemented during the colonial period and the advent of new crop seeds require more water consumption. Potentially, the colonial power required more production to meet their geopolitical requirements and ignored the ecological and environmental concerns.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change has badly impacted Pakistan, resulting in a notable decrease in precipitation patterns eventually decreasing groundwater recharge. The other primary factors contributing to groundwater depletion in Lahore and surrounding areas are human activities, land-use changes, and groundwater over-exploitation.
It is reported that a clear environmental shift (global warming) took place at the start of the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Considering the history of industrialization, countries like Pakistan are the victims of climate change instead of degrading the environment.
CONSEQUENCES OF GROUNDWATER DEPLETION
Groundwater depletion in the Lahore aquifer, or any other region, can significantly affect the environment and the local population. The consequences of groundwater depletion may include severe threats to the country’s socio-economy of the country, reduction in freshwater availability resulting in shortage for municipal, agricultural, and industrial water supplies, impacts on agriculture and industrial functioning, deterioration of water quality, threats to ecological habitat, land subsidence, increase in energy cost, and dependency on external water resources.