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| 2. When the once fresh waterway emerges from Bari Imam, it has taken the look of an open drain, carrying dark coloured sludge. |
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| 3. This photograph shows the dry bed of one of the storm water drains behind the Prime Minister’s House, situated on a mound on the edge of Noorpur Shahan. Domestic waste of the houses of ordinary people dumped in the dry ground turns it toxic and, when the rains come, it flows downstream. |
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| 4. In contrast, the water of this stream flowing through Sector G-6, is found clear even after it had travelled upto Khayaban-i-Suhrawardy. The reason is that a sewage trunk line carries all the domestic outflow of the densely populated area. Stream water is clean enough for the poor car washer seen in the photograph to earn his living. |
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| 5. Although the water of the stream passing through F-7 Markaz also is similarly clear but solid waste on its banks make it look dirty. |
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| 6. Some irregular settlements along the natural streams, like this one in Sector F-7, have made it impossible for the CDA to repair or replace broken sewage trunk lines. All sewage trunk lines were laid along the natural streams when the new capital was built in the 1960s. |
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| 7. This natural stream was small but clean where it entered Sector F-6. But it grew in size, and its water turned murky and smelly, after skirting a katchi abadi in the sector. |
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| 8. After decades of disregard for conserving nature, many of the once joyful streams have turned into rivers of garbage and stinking sludge as this ugly site at the Zero Point shows. |
Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2014
