Increasing development projects depleting rain-recharged aquifers

Islamabad : Increasing development activities in and around the capital are fast depleting the rain-recharged aquifers in the foothills of Margalla hills.

According to the details, the groundwater from higher elevation flows towards low lying areas to recharge. But, currently, major portion of this water is not reaching low-lying areas as it is being consumed faster than ever due to the increasing population.

On the other hand, water boring or water drilling cannot be carried out without obtaining No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the civic agency. The underground water belongs to the state and consumers also must pay aquifer charges to use it. Unfortunately, no official survey has so far been carried out to get to know how many households or commercial outfits are benefiting from bore water.

Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) in its report stated there are a total of 9,170 public and private tubewells and boreholes. But many believe that these numbers are massively underreported as the number of illegal wells and bores is much more than it.

The underground water table has now stooped to 200 to 300 feet from what used to be 80 to 100 feet just a few years ago in the federal capital.

The official record showed that the local administration decided in 2017 that if an approval from the competent forum was not obtained, seven days would be given to removing water bores voluntarily. However, no action was ever seen against illegal water boring in last six years.

It is also a matter of grave concern that the air in sectors like G-13 and G-14 have become warmer to the extent that raindrops there evaporate even before they hit the aquifer.

An official of the civic agency has said "A former mayor of Islamabad had decided to take action against illegal water boring and he also constituted a team to carry out this work. This effort failed to yield any result because an authentic data was not available and only random act could serve no purpose."