Murree’s beauty marred by a dirty tourist habit
Roy Zia Ur Rehman
Murree: The streams, springs and waterfalls of Murree offer visitors a welcome escape from the summer heat, but a less visible consequence of seasonal tourism is beginning to raise environmental and public-health concerns: discarded children’s diapers turning up along natural water channels.
As the summer holiday season approaches its final weeks, thousands of families continue to travel towards the hills for cooler weather and scenic views. Along the routes beyond Bhara Kahu, visitors frequently stop beside roadside springs and mountain streams, where children play in the water and families spend time taking photographs and cooling refreshments.
But scattered among the rocks and vegetation are used diapers and other household waste.
Some discarded diapers have been found beside flowing water, while others are lodged between stones. After rainfall, such waste can be washed into drainage channels and carried further downstream, potentially bringing faecal material and other contaminants closer to residential areas.
For residents living along these waterways, the problem does not necessarily end when tourists leave.
Local resident Saif Khalid told APP that diapers and other rubbish washed down during heavy rain sometimes become trapped in water channels near homes. He said greater awareness was needed at the point where tourists enter the hills, including prominent signboards, public-service messages and coordinated campaigns involving local authorities and the National Highways and Motorway Police.
During an APP visit to a roadside watercourse, Qurat-ul-Ain, a visitor from Lahore, acknowledged that a used diaper had been left beside the stream. She said the family had not had a shopping bag available to carry the waste until they could find a proper bin.
Another family visiting from Jhelum said they had used stream water to clean their child after defecation before leaving the used diaper nearby. They called for covered waste containers to be installed at popular roadside springs and water channels, along with clear warnings against washing faecal waste or disposing of diapers in running water.
The issue goes beyond visual pollution. Disposable diapers contain cellulose, synthetic materials and superabsorbent polymers and are not designed to rapidly break down after being discarded outdoors. When they contain human waste, they can also become a source of biological contamination.
Dr Suleman told APP that faecal matter should never be washed or disposed of in natural water channels, particularly when the water flows towards populated areas or is accessible to other people.
The World Health Organization has warned that faecally contaminated water can transmit diseases including diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio. The risk does not mean that every discarded diaper contains a harmful pathogen or that a single diaper will contaminate an entire stream, but disposing of human waste in or near flowing water creates an avoidable contamination risk.
The concern is particularly relevant in the Murree hills, where natural streams and springs form part of the area’s drainage system and support local ecosystems. Waterways that serve as tourist attractions can also be used by communities and provide habitat and water sources for wildlife.
Short-term awareness campaigns have repeatedly been launched, but residents say the lack of sustained enforcement, adequate waste facilities and continuous public messaging has allowed careless disposal to remain a recurring issue.
The solution, however, may not require complex infrastructure.
Covered waste bins at frequently used tourist stops, regular collection, warning signs and easily visible public-awareness messages could significantly reduce the amount of waste reaching streams. Local authorities and tourism-related agencies could also work with schools, families and transport operators to encourage responsible disposal.
For parents travelling with young children, the responsibility can begin with a simple step: carrying used diapers in a sealed bag until an appropriate waste bin is available.
The scenic waterways of Malika-e-Kohsar are more than places for visitors to stop for photographs. They are part of the natural drainage network of the hills and connect tourist sites with communities and ecosystems further downstream.
What appears to a visitor as a small piece of discarded waste can therefore travel much farther than the place where it was left, turning a temporary tourist convenience into a longer-lasting environmental and public-health concern.
