The water I never questioned at Parliament Lodges

I love coming to Pakistan and Islamabad always feels special to me. The city sits at the foot of the Margalla Hills, calm and green. There is something peaceful about its wide roads and quiet government buildings. Whenever I plan a trip, I usually spend a couple of nights in the city before coming back to Lahore or moving on to other places. During these short stays, I often spend a couple of hours at Parliament Lodges. It always felt like one of the safest and most respectable places I could be in.

Over the years, I have visited many times. I have sat in those lounges, sipped tea and watched guests being received with warm hospitality. I noticed something that always seemed normal to me. Important guests were often given bottled water instead of regular tap water. I never thought twice about it. I simply assumed it was a gesture of respect, the kind of small courtesy that important buildings give to important people.

Today, that assumption came crashing down. I was going through a report written by our ace reporter Nadeem Tanoli, and what I read left me uneasy. He has written about a Standing Committee meeting held on June 29, 2026, where Federal Minister Musadik Malik made a serious disclosure. The minister confirmed that water coming from the filter plants at Parliament House and Parliament Lodges was simply not fit for drinking. He said it plainly, calling it absolutely not fit for human consumption. He even said that he and the secretary had pushed the staff to collect samples, and the test results confirmed the water was unsafe.

As I read this, my mind went straight back to all those cups of tea I had been served during my visits. I never imagined that the water used to prepare that tea might be the same unsafe water the minister was talking about. It made me feel uneasy, almost foolish for never questioning it.

What troubled me even more was something else mentioned in the report. The minister said that while officials and guests are handed bottled water, ordinary citizens, including people living in areas like French Colony, are left to drink the very same contaminated water without any choice. This showed me that the problem is not limited to one building. It reflects a much larger crisis spreading across the country.

According to Nadeem Tanoli’s report, the ministry has worked on improving water testing through projects like Capacity Building on Water Quality Monitoring and SDG-6, which were completed in June 2026. Laboratories were upgraded, and a mobile van was introduced for on-site checking. Yet the minister was honest enough to admit that the Ministry can only set standards and run tests. Actually supplying clean water is a provincial responsibility, and in Islamabad, that duty falls on the Capital Development Authority.

The report also touched upon another worrying issue, sewage flowing into freshwater streams that eventually reach Rawal Dam, one of the main sources of drinking water for the city. Officials did mention that work is progressing on the Korang Nullah Sewage Treatment Plant, with financial bids expected to open within ten to fifteen days. This gave me a small sense of hope that authorities are at least aware of the danger and are trying to respond before things get worse.

Reading all this made me reflect deeply on my own visits. I had walked through those lounges so many times, never realizing that something as basic as drinking water was compromised in a place meant to represent the dignity of the entire nation. If conditions are this serious in such a high profile location, I can only imagine what ordinary citizens face in less visible parts of the city.

I am sharing this because people deserve to know the truth. Clean water should never be reserved only for important guests while everyone else is left vulnerable. Thanks to Nadeem Tanoli’s reporting, my next visit to Parliament Lodges will carry a very different feeling, one of awareness instead of quiet comfort.