Rawal Lake’s Dying Waters
Asem Mustafa Awan
Islamabad: Thousands of fish lie motionless along the banks of Rawal Lake. Their silver bodies, once hidden beneath the water, now float lifeless against the rocks, filling the air with a foul smell and an even fouler question: what happened here?
Rawal Lake is not an isolated pond tucked away in the wilderness. It is the reservoir that supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. When fish begin dying in such numbers, it is not merely an environmental incident. It becomes a public concern.
For years, similar episodes have surfaced, only to fade from public memory before their causes are fully explained. Sometimes pollution is suspected. Sometimes oxygen depletion. Sometimes contamination. Whatever the reason, the outcome remains the same. Nature sends a warning, and people are left waiting for answers.
The tragedy stretches beyond the fish. Birds feeding on contaminated aquatic life may also become victims, silently extending the damage through the food chain. If the ecosystem is under stress, the consequences rarely remain confined to a single species.
Only weeks ago, another heartbreaking scene unfolded at the same lake. Flamingos, having travelled thousands of kilometres in search of sanctuary, found danger instead. Several were killed by hunters while the survivors abandoned the lake that should have welcomed them. Today, the fish have joined that growing list of silent casualties.
The irony is difficult to ignore. Visitors pay entry fees. Vehicles pay parking charges. The lake is managed, regulated and promoted as a recreational destination. Yet every recurring environmental crisis raises uncomfortable questions about monitoring, conservation and accountability. A public resource deserves more than maintenance of its gates; it deserves protection of the life within it.
The dead fish lining the shore are not simply evidence of an ecological imbalance. They are reminders that nature often reveals institutional neglect long before official reports do.
A healthy lake should sustain life, not wash it onto its banks.
Until the cause is established, the water restored and safeguards strengthened, these lifeless fish will remain more than an environmental story. They will stand as a quiet warning that when a lake begins to die, confidence in everything that depends upon it begins to die with it.
Photo credit: Online
