CHITRAL: Residents of Rumbur Valley in Lower Chitral staged a protest here the other day against a water supply project being executed by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) to pipe water from a spring in Nok Thonlocality to the downstream Ayun village.

Local Kalash and Muslim communities oppose the project and contend that the project threatens their lives and culture. They have demanded that the district administration immediately halt the project.

The protesters said people from Nok Thonto Gombek had used the water for hundreds of years as the spring fed local homes, farms, watermills, and small power setups.

They claimed that the spring holds deep religious value for the Kalash people and piping its waters to a distant village outside the valley would have ‘religious repercussions’, which they won’t accept.

The speakers warned that taking water from Nok Thon could destroy the local ecosystem, hurt farming, power generation and Kalash cultural life.

The women speakers expressed their resolve to protect the valley’s water.

When contacted, a PHED official told Dawn that the project costing Rs390 million was one of the major drinking water supply projects of the district and the department had carried out a proper feasibility study, taking into account all aspects, including its environmental impacts.

He said that the spring was a private property of a resident, with whom the department had entered into a proper agreement.

The official said that the project was of immense importance for the Ayun village, which was the gateway of Kalash valleys, as the village faced an acute shortage of safe drinking water when the stream draining the waters of the twin Bumburate and Rumbur valleys was in high flood in summer.

The official said that the Ayun village residents were forced to consume highly contaminated water of the stream for weeks and contracted water-borne diseases. “This project is meant to provide the residents with clean drinking water.”

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2026