ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan official said on Saturday that laboratory testing shows that water from Lake Rawal is “fit for human consumption” after tonnes of dead fish were found in the water body on Islamabad’s outskirts.
The samples of water from Lake Rawal that were tested were fine for drinking, said Mushtaq Ahmed, a top administrative official in the capital Islamabad.
The Lake Rawal reservoir is used as the main source of water for the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near the capital. Ahmed said Islamabad gets its water supply from the nearby Simly and Khanpur dams.
Police officer Imran Haider earlier said that samples of water and dead fish from Rawal Lake had been collected and sent for forensic testing after a complaint was received from the capital’s fisheries department.
Officials said there was an increasing number of dead fish in the lake since monsoon rain began last week.
Ahmed said the dead fish found in the lake were still subject to investigation to ascertain why they died.
A police first information report said a large amount of fish had been found dead due to pouring of poisonous substance in the Rawal Dam.
According to the FIR registered by deputy director of Islamabad Fisheries Department Muhammad Sadiq Buzdar, members of a mafia gang were stopped from fishing and boating in the dam as it is banned.
He stated in the FIR that a major operation was carried out by ICT against the mafia and 20 boats were confiscated while five people were arrested.
This action, he said, irked the mafia which added poisonous material into the water that had killed a huge quantity of fish in the last few days and some others are dying on a daily basis.
He demanded strict action against those responsible for this act.
