Considering the current catastrophe, Pakistan needs to urgently devise a water management policy that deals with water scarcity issues and gives solutions to mitigate urban flooding. Currently, due to the prevailing weather conditions in the country, people are faced with severe dryness for nine months while on other hand, there is flooding caused due to sudden and erratic rains. To cope with the water scarcity and severe flooding, the government must adopt nature-based solutions for utilising rainwater to recharge the fast declining groundwater level and mitigate the serious problem of urban flooding in the country.
According to Environmentalists and experts on water conservation, the severity of both dryness and flooding needs to be balanced by reducing the tilt from both sides by opting for nature-based solutions. In this context, artificial groundwater recharge techniques through rainwater harvesting and storage of flowing water in underground tanks have emerged as an effective nature-based solution to tackle serious challenges of water scarcity in the shape of the rapid decline of the water table and urban flooding which causes damage to property and displacement of people.
Recently, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has set up a groundwater recharge well to conserve rainwater. According to estimates, the well recharged around 10 million gallons of rainwater in a few months (Tribune, 2022). The groundwater recharge well was set up at Kachnar Park in Islamabad by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Pakistan through the financial support of Water Aid. However, it has been seen that within four months of the installation of the first state-of-the-art artificial groundwater recharge well, the water table in the area has shown an increase of 4.8 metres (Tribune, 2022).
Considering the impacts of artificial recharge wells, the government must take the initiative to replicate nature-based solutions for conserving rainwater across the country at different suitable sites. Also, there is a need to propagate the concept of rainwater harvesting to improve groundwater. In addition, artificial recharge wells can also be installed at a small level in homes and help recover groundwater by saving rainwater from going to waste.
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