Leaks Flow While Homes Run Dry

Asem Mustafa Awan

Islamabad: Under the dim glow of streetlights in Rawalpindi, treated water spreads across broken asphalt, carrying debris while homes nearby remain thirsty.

Children play barefoot in the shallow streams, unaware of the precious resource slipping past their doors. Housewives clutch empty buckets, waiting hours for a supply that never comes, watching water — meant for their taps — vanish into the streets.

The sight is both striking and tragic. In a city where families queue for tankers and taps run dry for days, leaking pipelines have turned roads into rivers, offering a glaring symbol of institutional neglect.

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Streets shimmer under the night lights as water reflects a problem long ignored, one that continues to grow despite repeated complaints.

The stakes are deadly. Pakistan faces a high burden of waterborne diseases, including hepatitis, while an estimated 80 percent of the population lacks access to safe drinking water.

Each burst pipe, each delayed repair, heightens the risk to children, the elderly, and vulnerable households already struggling to survive. Doctors warn that repeated exposure to contaminated water only deepens the country’s public health crisis.

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Residents voice frustration and helplessness. “We wait hours for water, only to see it wasted on the streets,” said one local, shaking his head. “It feels like nobody cares.” Others describe rationing what little they have and sending children with empty bottles to neighbors in hope of sharing water.

Treated water flows across a Rawalpindi roadway following a burst pipeline, while nearby neighborhoods continue to face shortages. Citizens say repeated leaks and delayed repairs have worsened the crisis.

In Rawalpindi, the water crisis is no longer hidden in numbers. It is flowing past closed doors, empty glasses, and unanswered complaints — impossible to ignore. For those living here, every drop wasted on the streets is a reminder of a system failing its people.

Asem Mustafa Awan has extensive reporting experience with leading national and international media organizations. He has also contributed to reference books such as the Alpine Journal and the American Alpine Journal, among other international publications.

Photo Credit:  Amjad Abassi