ProPropertyNewsIslamabad’s Water Crisis: CDA Proposes Mandatory ‘Recharge Wells’ in Houses

Islamabad’s Water Crisis: CDA Proposes Mandatory ‘Recharge Wells’ in Houses

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Islamabad has proposed the mandatory construction of recharge wells for rainwater harvesting in a bid to replenish groundwater reserves.

The proposal was submitted to the CDA’s building control section by the water management deputy director general, Sardar Khan Zimri, who suggested amendments to existing by-laws.

These would make it mandatory for all house owners to construct recharge wells alongside the already mandatory water tanks.

The recharge wells will help recharge the underground water table, and CDA hopes to address the annual depletion rate of at least four feet.

Notably, Islamabad is a water-scarce city, mainly due to rapid population growth resulting from urbanization and migration from other parts of the country.

This issue has been ignored by the CDA for years, and since the construction of Khanpur Dam in the 1990s, no new sources of water have been explored.

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Currently, Islamabad requires 220 million gallons per day (mgd) water, while the CDA only provides 70mgd, and this need is set to increase due to new housing projects.

The deputy director general said that rainwater harvesting alone through recharge wells is not a solution to the city’s water problems. Therefore, CDA needs to focus on resolving the issue, especially since new housing schemes and apartment buildings continue to mushroom in the city without any focus on water needs.

It is important to mention that the proposed regulations would require homeowners to construct recharge wells and water tanks as part of their house construction process.

However, at present, homeowners are only bound to have water tanks, but these by-laws are not enforced.

It has also been shared that the construction of recharge wells has already helped increase the underground water table in parks in various areas.

Furthermore, an official from the CDA highlighted the importance of addressing the water issue before it becomes an imminent problem. Failure to do so will result in a scarcity of water in the capital city in the coming years.

Comments

  1. “These would make it mandatory for all house owners to construct recharge wells alongside the already mandatory water tanks”.

    Any one knows what is the meaning of above para

    1. A recharge well is simply a water tank without a bottom, sunk into the ground, where rainwater run off from roof and porch etc is collected and allowed to seep into the ground and recharge the water table …

      CDA would do well to stop everybody from pumping their basement sewage into the rain water nalas as well…

      Making laws is one thing, enforcing them is another …

  2. Excellent proposal. I had same idea for this issue. Rain water can be collected and channelized way into separate storage, filtered and used in many ways, besides previous storage tank Why not.

  3. Extremely important to have recharged well which will keep underground level normal.

  4. Stop polluting and wasting the rainwater, rained streams in the margalla hills…build small, secure catchment ponds to retain the water.

  5. We are not getting any water from CDA waterline in my house in G8 ,is there any solution for that.

  6. Very good to include in bylaws. However, CDA may have to do it at mega scale by making recharge wells identifying catchments on road rain drains and open areas.

  7. How is it possible to build a rain water storage system in an already constructed house? This may be possible in new houses. Srcondly, why not the CDA and the governments trying to stop the growth of big cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, which already have become too big. Why the governments dont have any plans to develop the smaller cities e.g. Gujrat, Sukkur, Charsadda etc?, so that the people go to these cities rather than continuing to pour into the thrre major cities of the country.

  8. اچھی کاوش ہے ، لاھور میں اس سے پہلے پچھلی نالائق حکومت یہ کام کر چکی ھے جس سے)PTI) گراؤنڈ واٹر لیول بھی بہترھوا اور بارش کے دنوں میں پانی کی نکاسی میں بھی مدد ملی

  9. Kindly take strict action against Gulberg administration as the allottee of Gulberg Residencia are not yet got possession of the their lands after laps of 12 years.

  10. Rainwater harvesting suits those areas which are having low rainfall. While islamabad always have frequent rainfall particularly in monsoon. Rainwater harvesting is going to deplete groundwater table more drastically. Infact CDA needs to spend financial resources on community mobilization for awareness . In addition the recycling of wastwater is needed and that’ is possible only by improving the water and sanitation sector. The later approach can recover lost surface water resources ( 11 streams) which are right now Hotspot of diseases.

  11. CDA should regulate service stations which use fresh drinking water for washing cars.
    They use clean water throughout the year and have no recycling system in place.

  12. This idea of rain water harvesting should be implemented throughout Pakistan. Then it will be much beneficial. The idea is to divert the rooftop rain water to a bore hole which is 50 to 100 feet deep fitted with plastic pipes with tiny holes so that water goes to the surrounding earth. This way huge amount of water will be saved instead of going to waste in the ocean every year. Many practical videos are present on YouTube.

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