Climate responsive urban groundwater management options in a stressed aquifer system

After Independence of Pakistan in 1947, problems between India and Pakistan arose over the distribution of water as rivers in Punjab Province flow into the Pakistan territory from across India. To solve this water distribution problem, a treaty known as Indus Water Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, was signed by the two countries in 1960. As per this treaty, Pakistan has exclusive rights for the three western rivers, namely Indus, Jhelum and Chenab whereas India retains rights to the three eastern rivers, namely Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The new river water distribution seriously affected the urban centres' aquifers which were previously being recharged by these eastern rivers and their associated irrigation canal systems. The biggest setback due to the lost of water use of one of the three eastern rivers is being faced by the Punjab Province capital city of Lahore where the main source of recharge to the underlying aquifer is River Ravi. The main aim of this paper is to study the wicked water problem being faced by Lahore city and to explore sustainable groundwater development policy options for adaptation to climate change as part of integrated urban water management in a stressed aquifer like Lahore. To study this problem, groundwater modelling tool was used. A parsimonious working surface-groundwater interaction groundwater flow model, using MODFLOW Package, was developed for understanding the hydro-geological dynamics under different aquifer management interventions as part of climate responsive policy. The developed model was calibrated using PEST (acronym for Parameter ESTimation) Package. There was a close agreement between the observed and simulated heads and the overall trend of the observed groundwater hydrograph was also followed well by the modelled data.