GROUNDWATER LEVELS SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DEGRADATION IN LAHORE METROPOLITAN.

Lahore is the second largest city of Pakistan and capital of Punjab province. It has a long history of groundwater over abstraction with continuously decreasing rate of aquifer recharge which results in water table level recession substantially. Water supply demand has been increased as a result of rapid increase in population, urbanization and industrialization. On the other hand, land development has reduced the recharge as a significant portion of the land has become impermeable. River Ravi which was considered a dominant source of recharge to groundwater remains almost dry except in the monsoon season. Groundwater conditions are likely to worsen in near future if the situation remains persistent. The basic step towards remedial measures for the issue is to quantify this rate of degradation and to identify possible causes as well. In this study Geographic Information System (GIS) has been used as it provides Interpolation, classification and Contour delineating tools for this kind of quantitative measurements. A depression zone in the groundwater levels below 38m has been identified which goes on expanding after 2004 persistently with an average rate of about 24.5 Km 2 per year. The expansion trend in the depression zone