slow-burning crisis is tightening its grip on Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Across its mountainous region, natural springs, once the backbone of daily life, are disappearing at an alarming rate, exposing the fragility of water systems that have long been taken for granted.

For generations, these springs have sustained communities, providing drinking water, irrigating fields and supporting livestock in areas where formal infrastructure remains limited. Today, however, a convergence of climate stress, environmental degradation and policy failures is pushing these lifelines to the brink.

Residents increasingly rely on distant treks, costly private suppliers or water tankers to meet basic needs. What was once a self-sufficient system rooted in nature has been replaced by uncertainty and expense, with rural livelihoods bearing the heaviest burden.

Talking to The News on Sunday, Abdul Majeed, a resident of Bagh district, says that water from these springs was used for everything: drinking, cooking, washing and for livestock rearing. “Now that the nearby sources have dried up, women in the village have to walk long distances to fetch water,” he says. He says that government support has been very limited. Some NGOs have stepped in to help install pipes and water tanks.

A 2023 field study by Islamic Relief Pakistan, Research on Increased Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources and Livelihood in the Districts Muzaffarabad, Bagh and Haveli, AJK, had found that this is not an isolated problem. The report documented significantly reduced flow or complete drying of natural springs and water channels in these three districts. It said erratic and reduced rainfall, rising temperatures, higher evaporation rates, deforestation and construction on fertile land were the main drivers.

Rural communities now face acute shortages for drinking, irrigation and livestock rearing. Women and children bear the heaviest adaptation burden. The study described the situation as a “wake-up call” for stronger adaptation measures, including better water management and community awareness.

The drivers of this crisis are both immediate and structural. In recent months, rainfall across Azad Jammu and Kashmir has declined sharply, leaving dry streams, wells and springs that once fed entire communities. Reduced winter snowfall and rising temperatures have disrupted natural recharge cycles, weakening the groundwater systems that sustain these sources. At the same time, deforestation and unregulated construction have further limited the land’s capacity to absorb and retain water. Expanding concrete surfaces block natural recharge pathways, while the loss of forest cover reduces soil moisture retention, accelerating the decline of already fragile aquifers.

The consequences extend beyond water scarcity. Public health risks are rising as communities turn to unsafe or stagnant water sources, increasing exposure to waterborne diseases, particularly among children and the elderly. Meanwhile, declining water availability has withered pastures and reduced crop yields, striking at the core of rural food security.

Compounding the natural decline is the impact of major infrastructure projects. The Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project near Muzaffarabad has triggered a documented water crisis in the surrounding villages. The project’s underground tunnels have diverted groundwater channels, causing natural springs that once served communities to disappear. Residents now travel several kilometres for water. Many have sold livestock because there is no water left for cattle.

Chaudhry Murad, a resident of Muzaffarabad, tells TNS that the worsening conditions have accelerated rural-to-urban migration. He says the affected communities continue to voice grievances amid unfulfilled government assurances to construct alternative water reservoirs.

Muzaffarabad city itself has faced shortages blamed on the hydropower project. Villagers say the government promised restoration of local water supplies and compensation after construction, but these pledges remain unfulfilled.

In Mirpur district, long-standing promises tied to the Mangla Dam Raising Project have also fallen short. Under a 2003 tripartite agreement between Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the WAPDA, the government had committed to supplying 126 cusecs of drinking water to Mirpur and adjoining areas through a dedicated line, including a 10-kilometre pipeline, storage tanks and treatment facilities. The infrastructure was built with federal funding. However, water has never been released through the Jari tunnel. Decades after displacement from the original dam site, affected communities still lack reliable supply of drinking and irrigation water, causing continued dependence on private tanker operators.

The coping mechanisms are becoming increasingly unsustainable. Families spend significant portions of their income on water, travel long distances daily to secure it or migrate to urban centres, placing additional strain on already overstretched city systems. What begins as a water shortage often evolves into economic displacement.

Government response has remained fragmented and insufficient. Development funds and small-scale schemes have been announced, including allocations linked to hydropower projects, but implementation gaps persist. Crucially, there has been limited focus on protecting and restoring the natural systems, including forests, catchments and aquifers, that sustain springs in the first place.

At its core, AJK’s water crisis reflects a broader policy blind spot: the neglect of decentralised, nature-dependent water sources in favour of large-scale infrastructure that often overlooks local ecological dynamics.

As climate variability intensifies, the disappearance of freshwater springs signals more than an environmental change; it marks the unravelling of centuries-old relationship between communities and their natural resources. Unless urgent, coordinated action is taken, the cost will not only be measured in dry springs, but also in lost livelihoods, forced migration and deepening inequality.

The warning signs are no longer distant. The springs are falling silent; the resilience of entire communities hangs in the balance.

The writer is a freelance contributor from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, currently pursuing an MS in Development Studies at NUST, Islamabad. She can be reached at [email protected] and on X: @hunain_mahmood.