Sustainable groundwater exploitation of the Lei-Basin

The infiltration surface is being sealed off. This is creating further flood problems in Rawalpindi. After the drought year of 1994, groundwater is being privately exploited without any legal central control of quality and quantity. Measures to increase the amount of groundwater recharge would improve drinking water both qualitatively and quantitatively and reduce loss through uncontrolled runoff. The stored groundwater would not only be a reliable reserve in times of drought but also compensate for the anthropogenic influences in the south and the geogenic burden of gypsum layers in the west. To cut losses due to evaporation in the dry period, methods of groundwater recharge could be restricted to those involving little exposure to sun and wind. At other time periods surface spreading could be used. All in all the chessboard regional city planning of Islamabad, as laid down in the Master Plan, has to be re-planned interdisciplinarily according to the modern environmental aspects.