Cleaning the Ravi

LAHORE: The historic city of Lahore and its association with the Ravi River dates back centuries. The Walled City and the Mughal monuments of Lahore — the Badshahi Mosque, the Lahore Fort, etc — were built around the river. The ‘Buddha Darya’ (old bed of Ravi) was where the river flowed when it passed adjacent to the Lahore Fort.

As Lahore is on the eastern bank of the Ravi, it is called “The river of Lahore”. Its western bank is the town of Shahdara Bagh with the tomb of Jahangir and the tomb of Noor Jahan telling its tale. After passing through Lahore, the river takes a turn at Kamalia and then detaches into the Chenab, south of the town of Ahmadpur Sial.

However, in the modern age, it is also a fact that Lahore’s iconic river faces many problems, the foremost of which is pollution.

While talking to Bol News, director hydrology Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA), Mohammad Mohsin Atiq said the Ravi faces a complex combination of challenges that threatens its residents and their livelihoods including the headworks, barrages and dams, unaccountable agricultural and industrial practices, lack of waste-water treatment, weak environmental management, contamination and changes in groundwater levels, crucial disconnect between the rivers of the basin and their residents.

The present flow rate of the river is 175 to 2,000 cusecs throughout the season except during the monsoon season, which cannot be called a live river, Atiq claims.

“The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA Lahore) through its 12 disposal stations discharges approximately 1,000 cusecs (dry season) of waste water of the city directly into the Ravi”, he informed and added that other than WASA there are numerous small industrial and residential units that directly discharge waste water into the river.  He added that with the quantity of waste dumped, there is a high level of pollution in the Ravi. “The water is contaminated with organic, inorganic and heavy metals from the industrial, commercial and residential activities”, Atiq admitted.

He believes that the pollution load in the river is high due to the discharge of waste water and is affecting the aquatic life of the river.

Problems with the Ravi 

Atiq, an expert on water-related issues, has said the fast-growing population and the robust development have stretched the Ravi’s ecosystem beyond its capacity, putting at risk the livelihoods of millions of people and destroying the critical ecosystem that could support the economy.

“A continuously growing population, high industrial development, and rapid urbanization without proper planning have resulted in the degradation of water quality of the Ravi River”, he said.

“There is a lack of surface water quality standards in Punjab, outdated standards for drinking water quality and municipal industrial effluent, few sewage treatment plants, no enforcement of municipal effluent standards”, he added.

Negative climate change impact 

Atiq maintained that climate change is affecting the monsoon rainfall and its duration as well. “The rising temperatures increase water loss via evapotranspiration across the vast irrigated areas of the basin. Hotter days will increase demand for irrigation while potentially lowering volumes of return flows across the Ravi Basin”, he said.

Another cause of concern for Atiq was the decreasing quality of Ravi’s water. “1.5bn litres (836 cusecs) of untreated sewage of Lahore city is dumped in the Ravi River and high level of pollution is coming from the drains and solid waste due to which fisheries and other aquaculture cannot survive”, he feared.

It is pertinent to mention here that in 1988 the Ravi experienced 6,568 cusecs flood that affected 3.4 million people and one million hectares agricultural land, caused 500 deaths and $400m loss to the economy.

“The presence of Indian dams at the Ravi having huge spillway capacity is a source of persistent flood threat”, he feared while adding that the capacity of Shahdara Bridge is 250,000 cusecs. In case of high flood, the second largest city of Pakistan will be adversely affected”, he also feared.

He added that water resources are contaminated by the sediments, fuel and chemical spills, or by solid waste and effluent generated by kitchens, toilets and industries. Agreeing with Atiq, another expert told Bol News that after detailed analysis, it is evident that the River Ravi has high levels of pollutants in accordance with surface water quality standards for sustainable aquatic life.

Talking to Bol News, a senior official at RUDA who is privy to the conditions said that the macro urban conditions, in sync with the continuing growth in the city’s population, have combined to overburden the city’s infrastructure up to the breaking point. Thus, the need for a new urban centre for Lahore has become inevitable.

What will RUDA do?

The senior official said that our vision is to create a vibrant, sustainable and high-quality urban development hub that will draw much needed urban investment into Lahore, thereby cementing its status as the capital of Punjab. “We are working to rehabilitate and develop the dying Ravi River into a perennial freshwater body with high-quality waterfront urban development, to improve the river life and ecology, and also reduce the underground water stress in the Lahore region”, the official said and added that RUDA is also developing a multipurpose riverfront and reclaiming the floodplain area along both banks of the river.

The RUDA official shared that in order to rehabilitate the Ravi into a perennial freshwater body, the storage of 270bn litres (0.22 million-acre feet (MAF) of water in three lakes is essential.

“RUDA plans to provide 2.5bn litres per day (1,000 cusecs), 50pc of the city’s domestic demand, of clean drinking water to Lahore”, the senior official said while adding that the waste-water treatment for the city by RUDA will significantly improve river water quality and uplift the adjourning areas socially and economically.

He maintained that the river will be channelized in trapezoidal shape and embankments will be provided at both sides to save the city from flood along with the widening of bridges.

The senior official said that three barrages will be constructed to store enough water for the dry seasons and to maintain a water level to prevent drought.

He added that for aquatic life the waste water will be treated before discharging into the Ravi by reducing pollutants to ensure good water quality for the fisheries.