Lahore: The first underground water reservoir system to conserve rain water and help avoid urban flooding in low laying areas of the city has been launched, according to news reports shared on July 13.
On July 12, the Punjab government’s official Twitter account shared a video showing a test trial of the ‘Underground Water Storage Tank’ set up near Lawrence Road. The tweet stated that the storage tank had a capacity to store 1.5 million gallons of rainwater. ‘If the test results turn out to be successful, more such projects will be initiated across Punjab,’ read the tweet.
The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) completed the project in three months by spending PKR 149 million. The underground water reservoir is modelled after rainwater water storages found in Japan and the US, and is believed to help prevent disasters in metropolitan areas during and after heavy downpours.
In order to identify the suitable areas for setting up these reservoirs, WASA carried out a statistical analysis of several areas of Lahore and identified various hotspots prone to experiencing urban flooding during the monsoon season. After close deliberation, the authority chose Lawrence Garden.
For this purpose, the authority constructed a 6-feet drain to connect Lawrence Garden to the underground storage tank. In case this tank overflows, the water will be channeled to the outer surface reservoirs that have a storage capacity of 0.2 million gallons of water. In addition, there is another arrangement in place if the second reservoir also overflows — with excessive water to be channeled to the Birdwood Drain.
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