RAWALPINDI: Every monsoon, Rawalpindi witnesses torrential rain. Streets quickly turn into waterways, drainage systems struggle to cope and low-lying areas are submerged. Yet, when the rains disappear, many households across the city find themselves worrying about something as basic as water for daily use.
Residents are forced to purchase water tankers, often at exorbitant prices.
Mrs Ahmad, a resident of Westridge, said: “In our society, a single water tanker costs Rs1,700, but in an emergency, we pay up to Rs3,500 for a tanker from outside our housing society.”
For residents in other parts of the city, the situation is no different.
Mr Jabbar, a resident of Adiala Road, said: “Summer months are difficult as far as water supply is concerned. We require at least two water tankers a week to manage our needs.”
“These tankers are getting costly,” he added.
The scale of the contradiction becomes clearer when the city is viewed during a heavy monsoon spell. Over just three consecutive days of intense rainfall last week, Rawalpindi received exceptionally heavy rain, with different stations recording between roughly 94mm and 147mm.
The downpour was intense, enough to flood roads, inundate low-lying areas and disrupt routine life across the city.
For Rawalpindi, Leh Nullah illustrates the problem. Several streams drain into the nullah, while congested localities have developed alongside it. When water levels rise rapidly, surrounding settlements are exposed to the consequences.
In the recent spell, Leh rose close to dangerous levels. As rainwater accumulated faster than the drainage system could carry it away, residents in several parts of the city faced flooded homes, stranded vehicles and difficult journeys through waterlogged streets.
Yet the same city never stops searching for water. This is where Rawalpindi’s real monsoon paradox lies. The problem is not simply that the city receives too much rain. It is that too little of that rain is captured, stored or allowed to replenish its declining groundwater.
Every monsoon brings an opportunity to recharge water reserves. But without effective rainwater harvesting, improved drainage and groundwater-recharge measures, much of that opportunity is lost.
Dr Younis Zahid, president of the Punjab Climate Action Network, which comprises 55 NGOs working together on environmental issues, believes rainwater harvesting has become increasingly important for cities as rainfall patterns have changed and pressure on water resources has grown.
“Rains were very slow in the past and they replenished the underground water by recharging but now we have high intensity rains and this water can’t replenish the way they used to,” Mr Zahid said.
The shift from slower rainfall to intense downpours means that large volumes of water can arrive within a short period, making it harder for rainwater to naturally seep into the ground. Instead, large quantities may become surface runoff, contributing to flooding while failing to adequately replenish underground sources.
Rainwater harvesting, however, is not limited to collecting water from rooftops.
“Rain harvesting ranges from storing roof water to expanding the capacity of dams,” Mr Zahid said, adding, “our dams were perennial previously but now they have become seasonal”.
The changing pattern makes water management increasingly important, particularly for cities where demand continues to rise.
Mr Zahid called for water management with a broader jurisdiction, suggesting that the issue needs to be addressed beyond narrow institutional or geographical boundaries.
He said no large-scale sensitisation effort by the provinces was yet visible and argued that rainwater harvesting needed to become part of both household and government-level planning.
“Underground water replenishing requires the municipality to be involved. People alone cannot do it,” Mr Zahid said, adding that “government buildings should set an example through practical rainwater-harvesting systems”.
Shahbaz Mahmood, head of Climatology and Environment at the Global Climate Change Impact Centre, said: “Rainwater harvesting is very important and crucial as high intensity rainfall has increased.”
Pakistan is now experiencing intense, short-duration and localised rainfall, particularly during the monsoon. Such events can produce large amounts of water within a limited area and a short period, putting considerable pressure on urban drainage systems.
According to Mr Mahmood, the nature of flooding itself is also changing.
“Flash flooding and cloudburst are recent and frequent at present.
Previously, we had large scale flooding but urban flooding is a major challenge now due to climate change,” he said.
The problem is not confined to older parts of the cities. Urban expansion and development have also affected natural water routes.
Even planned housing societies have narrowed waterways, contributing to water accumulation and flooding. The highly localised nature of recent rainfall makes planning even more complicated.
Mr Mahmood pointed to the contrasting rainfall experienced across different parts of the city. Such localised events mean that one city or even one part of a city can receive extreme rainfall while other areas experience considerably less or no rain at all.
The financial aspect is another challenge. For households constructing new homes, installing a rainwater-harvesting system can initially appear to be an additional expense. Unless people understand the long-term benefits, such systems may continue to be viewed as a financial burden rather than an investment.
Mr Mahmood compared the situation with the transition towards solar energy.
“It is similar to solar and grid energy,” he said.
The comparison is significant because solar energy was also once viewed largely through the lens of its initial cost. Greater awareness of its longer-term financial benefits helped make it more acceptable to households. Rainwater harvesting could require a similar shift in public thinking.
But individual households cannot solve the groundwater problem alone.
The challenge, therefore, extends beyond simply installing tanks or collecting water from rooftops. It involves drainage, groundwater recharge, urban planning, building regulations, municipal management, early-warning systems and public awareness.
The city needs to move beyond the question of how quickly rainwater can be drained away. The more important question is how much of that water can be captured before it becomes destructive runoff.
— The writer is a freelance journalist
Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2026
