Pollution of River Ravi: Characterization and Load Assessment of Wastewater Outfalls of Lahore, Pakistan

The city of Lahore like other ancient cities was developed along the bank of a river, i.e. the River Ravi, currently a trans-boundary river between India and Pakistan. Therefore, since the development of Lahore city, its sewage and waste water was discharged into its adjacent river. However, the population explosion, urbanization, unplanned industrialization, broad scale use of synthetic fertilizers and household chemicals consequently deteriorate the water quality of the River Ravi due to significant discharge of wastewater from the metropolitan city of Lahore into it. As a result, the contaminated water of the Ravi not only affects the aquatic ecosystem of the river but also worsen its water used downstream for the irrigation, livestock, aqua-culture and recreational purposes. It is therefore essential to estimate the pollution load from the urban city entering into River Ravi in order to prevent and control the degradation of water quality of the River Ravi and help the researchers, decision makers, and the academics to evaluate the cause and pollution status of the most polluted river of Pakistan.