RAWALPINDI, Oct 4: Human activity going on around the Rawal Lake for the love of its natural environs is polluting the lake to “disastrous level”, according to the Water and Sewage Agency (Wasa).

Wasa sources told Dawn on Thursday that human settlements, deforestation, erosion, sedimentation and effluents released into the streams were hurting the quantity and quality of water in the lake.

All these activities were going on without seeking any clearance from the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak- EPA).

Some 170 poultry farms, with over 360 poultry sheds, located in the catchment area of the lake dispose of their entire waste into the hill streams which bring water to the lake. They contain insoluble chemicals which make the water “extremely harmful” for humans.

Although the international standards for preserving lake’s water disallow human activity in the vicinity of drinking water ponds, human settlements have mushroomed around the Rawal Lake in the last two decades.

Villages like Bhara Kahu, Malpur, Bani Gala and Nurpur Shahan situated close to Rawal Lake have been growing into towns. The waste their populations produce is discharged into the lake.

A Wasa official estimates that 60,000 big trees had been cut for the construction of roads, housing schemes and commercial buildings within the catchment area of the lake. “Deforestation encourages erosion of soil besides increasing turbidity level,” he said.

Wasa’s Managing Director Lt-Col (retired) Islamul Haq holds the Capital Development Authority (CDA) responsible for the pollution as, he says, it failed to handle the sewage water from Bari Imam, Quaid-i-Azam University and Diplomatic Enclave.

Unless such flows were checked on priority basis, he said, water contamination level in the lake would aggravate. That would put the residents of Rawalpindi who use the water at risk of water-borne diseases.

“Already the phenomenon of eutrophication has occurred in the lake due to toxicity and chemical inflow into it,” he said.

Mr Haq said further settlements should not be allowed in the catchment area of the lake and, meanwhile, wide-scale plantation drive should be launched to prevent the soil from being eroded.

Satellite pictures of the Khanpur and Rawal dams show the water in Khanpur dam bluish while the Rawal Lake’s water was black.

About 70 per cent of the total 106 square miles catchment area of the Rawal Lake has been damaged by construction and commercial activities.