First Groundwater Recharge Well Inaugurated in Gujranwala to Combat Water Scarcity and Enhance Groundwater Quality

GUJRANWALA: The first groundwater recharge well in Gujranwala has been inaugurated at Kashmir Park, Satellite Town, a collaborative project between the local welfare organization YarMadadgar and WASA Gujranwala. Engineer Zafar Iqbal Wattoo, a national expert in water resources and management, was the chief guest at the ceremony. Among the notable attendees were WASA Gujranwala’s MD Engineering Kashan Butt, Vice President of the Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce Ahmed Naveed Ranjha, and agriculture expert GM Saqib from the Gilgit-Baltistan Agriculture Department.

Zafar Iqbal Watto expressed that this well marks a crucial initial step in realizing YarMadadgar’s vision of building hundreds of groundwater recharge wells across the city. Wattoo emphasized that Pakistan is among the countries facing severe water shortages, and constructing recharge wells in cities nationwide could help conserve millions of litters of valuable rainwater that otherwise flow into sewage systems.

Khuwaja Rizwan, the chairman of YarMadadgar, provided a briefing at the event, explaining that the recharge well is designed to direct rainwater underground, thus raising the water table and enhancing groundwater quality. He highlighted the well’s role in alleviating pressure on WASA’s sewage system during rainfall, saving large volumes of clean rainwater from going to waste. Before this installation, rainwater often accumulated in the park, creating pools for days, but now the recharge well will allow water to be absorbed into the ground within hours, making the park accessible for recreational activities.

The filtration setup for the well includes a six-foot-deep pit layered with stones and fine gravel to purify the rainwater before directing it into a bore pipe. This filtered water then flows into the underground sand layer, where it undergoes further filtration and merges with the groundwater. There is a critical need for similar groundwater recharge wells in other cities of the country where contamination has rendered groundwater unusable, and its level has dropped to alarming depths.