LAHORE: Lahore’s underground stormwater storage tanks, including those constructed recently, played an important role to store millions of gallons of rainwater during the ongoing monsoon rains so far, officials claim.
According to them, in Tajpura and other traditionally low-lying localities in Lahore prone to rainwater accumulation, the newly constructed underground stormwater storage tank (UGST) played a key role during the first monsoon spell.
“Tajpura has historically experienced prolonged rainwater accumulation because of its topography. The UGST, with a storage capacity of nearly four million gallons, temporarily retained rainwater during peak rainfall, reducing pressure on the sewerage network and enabling faster drainage of the area,” said an official source while talking to Dawn on Friday.
“Similar facilities were developed at 14 locations/spots across Lahore, including Lakshmi Chowk, Johar Town and Chauburji, where they regulated stormwater flows during heavy rains.”
The official claimed that the province’s comparatively effective response to the first spell of monsoon rains was preceded by a province-wide sewerage desilting campaign and the introduction of a central digital monitoring system aimed at improving the operational readiness of water and sanitation agencies (Wasas).
“The pre-monsoon desilting drive was launched from May 1 as part of the government’s broader preparedness strategy ahead of the monsoon.”
The official claimed that that the monsoon operation was being monitored through a central digital dashboard established at Punjab Wasa headquarters, enabling senior officials to track daily progress, review field operations and monitor the performance of individual the agency in real time.
“The dashboard introduced greater accountability and allowed operational bottlenecks to be addressed before the onset of heavy rains”
According to official data, the ongoing monsoon campaign resulted in the desilting of 3,998km of sewerage lines, 723km of storm water drains, cleaning of 222,545 manholes and 342 wet wells, besides removal of 659,475 tonnes of silt and solid waste from drainage infrastructure across Punjab. The campaign exceeded the targets set at its launch and was completed ahead of schedule.
The data shows that the comparative assessments carried out after the first spell of monsoon led to clearing of water more quickly in a number of cities than previous years.
“Lahore, Gujrat, Okara, Sahiwal, Sargodha and several other districts improved in both ponding depth and water clearance timely. Advance desilting works in the wake of Punjab Development Programme Schemes and improved preparedness of additional machinery and continuous monitoring through the Command and Control Centre are the ways adopted in this regard, as the desilting drive formed part of a wider contingency plan prepared before the monsoon season.
“Inspections are being conducted to verify the operational readiness of mobile dewatering machinery, generators and disposal stations. Additional pumping machinery was procured for cities across Punjab, while procurement of machinery and equipment in phases and parts is continued,” the official claimed.
The official said the government’s decision to establish new Wasas, equip them with modern machinery and bring them under a central monitoring framework had enhanced the agencies’ operational capacity, enabling a more coordinated response to monsoon-related emergencies and improving public service delivery across the province.
While acknowledging that exceptionally intense rainfall can still overwhelm urban drainage infrastructure in some localities, the official maintained that the pre-monsoon interventions had improved coordination and operational response during the first spell of the season.
“The rainwater stored in the storage tanks under wastewater harvesting strategy will not only be used for water plants by horticulture agencies, but also help us keeping the underground water table raised,” another official maintained.
Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2026
