Water supply from Rawal dam restored

ISLAMABAD: The water supply from Rawal Dam to Rawalpindi has been restored, authorities informed on Sunday.

As per a statement issued on Saturday night, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Capt (retd) Mushtaq Ahmed informed that the National Agricultural Research Centre had tested the water and declared  no abnormality had been found.  However, the fish and water samples have also been sent to the National Institute of Health and Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources for further testing. However, he advised that the water should be boiled before consumption.

The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) on Saturday stated that poison had not been found in the dam’s water, which had led to a large number of fish in Rawal Dam to die.

Following the development, WASA had requested to temporarily suspend the water supply to Rawalpindi.

A criminal case was also lodged by the Secretariat police on Wednesday against a ‘local mafia’ for pouring poison into the dam.

According to the FIR lodged by the Punjab Fisheries Department, a local mafia was asked to refrain  from fishing and boating in the dam as it was banned. Annoyed by the order, the  mafia added poisonous substance to the water that killed nearly 240 tonnes of fish so far.

The dam provides an estimated 24 million gallons of water to Rawalpindi every day.