PREDICTABLY enough, the torrential rains in Lahore on Tuesday and Wednesday have been the harbinger of bad news. At least 15 people have been killed, including several who were electrocuted, and municipal workers have had to resort to boats to rescue people stranded on roads that turned into canals. The construction of the upcoming multibillion-rupee Orange Line Metro project brought more chaos when a massive sinkhole opened up in a newly carpeted portion of Mall Road under which an underground station is being built. That not only brought the civil engineering work at the site into question, but also raised concerns that the rainwater pouring into the crater would compromise the foundations of the station and the historic buildings in the vicinity. The eight-hour-long deluge proved to be the highest rainfall ever recorded for the city in a single day in July. Inevitably, the ensuing mayhem provided much fodder for political opponents and social media to mock the former chief minister’s claims about having turned Lahore into Paris.

The city is no stranger to urban flooding; one of the worst instances was four years ago when nearly 20 people were killed because of the monsoon downpour. Then as now, despite the challenge posed by a catastrophic volume of rain concentrated within a short span of time, the solution is not rocket science. What is needed is an overhaul of the aging sewerage infrastructure and a methodical solid waste disposal system across Lahore. The fact that the flooding is not so severe in some of the areas where drainage has been widened and upgraded in the course of building new roads, and where a better solid waste management programme is in place, proves the point. There are also other factors that go hand in hand with a rapidly growing metropolis and which have the potential to disrupt municipal functions. For example, unplanned urbanisation and changes in land use can result in encroachments on drainage outlets, and infrastructure built according to the requirements of residential areas cannot cope with the demands of commercialised spaces. Moreover, many industrial units within Lahore — particularly the smaller ones — discharge untreated effluent into open drains. In the event of flooding, residents are also at risk of coming into contact with these industrial chemicals, thereby compounding the health hazard posed by pools of stagnant water. People should not have to fear the coming of the rains every year.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2018