CLAIM

The Attabad Lake in Hunza has dried into a desert

WHAT HAPPENED

The Attabad Lake in Hunza is popularly referred to as the “crown jewel” of Gilgit-Baltistan and is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the region. The lake was formed when Attabad village in Gojal Valley had a major landslide, 14 kilometres upstream (east) of Karimabad, that occurred on January 4, 2010.

For the past few days, videos claiming to show the latest visuals of the lake have been doing the rounds on social media, featuring large parts of its once-turquoise waters replaced by dry, exposed land.

The clip was shared by several digital media pages on X, Facebook and Instagram, as seen here, here, here and here. Some said the lake was no more, while others raised concerns over “visible decline in water levels”, linking it to environmental degradation in Pakistan’s northern areas due to “increasing tourism, unplanned activity, and natural shifts”. One user also called it the “end of Attabad Lake as we know it”.

Meanwhile, people in the comments section argued that the drying of the lake was a usual phenomenon, further fuelling the debate.

WHAT WE FOUND

A keyword search conducted to corroborate whether mainstream local media outlets had reported on the drying of the lake yielded a news report by Pakistan Today, dated June 2, 2026. “What was once a deep blue, almost surreal stretch of water where tourists took boat rides and snapped postcard-perfect photos now looks dramatically different,” it stated.

“Viral clips circulating on social media show wide sandy patches, shrinking water channels, and areas that appear more like a cold desert than a lake,” the report added.

A similar report was carried by Pakhtun Digital, a Peshawar-based independent digital news network, on June 5 with the title, “Attabad Lake: A beautiful masterpiece of nature now under environmental pressure”. It raised the alarm that if steps were not taken to protect the lake, it would lose its natural beauty in a few years.

Jamil Nagri, Dawn’s correspondent in GB, also confirmed that the visuals circulating on social media were accurate.

Taking a deeper dive into the science behind the lake’s water levels and formation yielded a 2024 research paper that stated that Attabad Lake was never a typical natural lake. It was formed in 2010 after a landslide blocked the Hunza River, which means the lake is technically a landslide-dammed reservoir — a natural body of water formed when a catastrophic landslide, rockslide, or avalanche debris blocks the flow of a river.

As a result, the lake’s size and water levels are influenced by factors such as inflow from the Hunza River and glacier-fed tributaries, rainfall and the management of outflow through spillways constructed to reduce pressure on the natural dam.

The research found a gradual reduction in the lake’s surface area between 2010 and 2020. According to the authors, sediment accumulated in the lake’s upstream northern estuary as the water body evolved over time, increasing the extent of exposed sediment deposits and altering the surrounding landscape.

“Because of its proximity to the source of the Hunza River, the lake experiences rapid silting. Over time, this natural sedimentation gradually shrinks the active water area and alters the surrounding landscape,” the paper noted.

The study further observed that changes in the lake became less pronounced after 2016, suggesting that the water body was moving towards a more stable state.

The same was concurred by a climate expert based in GB. “The lake has not dried up; instead, it is shrinking due to high levels of silt in the lake, which is a natural phenomenon,” he told iVerify Pakistan over the phone. “This is something we have seen in most rivers across northern areas.”

Rivers in the Karakoram carry significant loads of rock, sand and fine particles eroded from surrounding mountains and glaciers.

He explained that there was siltation of sand and soil coming in summer seasons from upstream water tributaries, the principal source of water of the lake, which made it look like the lake was drying up. When the river water slows upon entering the lake, much of this material settles on the lake bed, gradually forming exposed mudflats and sandy stretches.

“Water is still coming into the lake; however, it varies due to climatic factors. The huge amount of silt accumulating in the Attabad Lake makes it look like the lake has dried up,” the expert added.

Therefore, whether the currently exposed areas remain exposed, expand or become submerged again in the future cannot be determined, as it is influenced by a combination of glacier melt, river inflows, sediment deposition and other factors.

CONCLUSION

To say that the Attabad Lake has dried up is misleading.

While the viral videos accurately show exposed sediment and changes, the size and appearance of Attabad Lake are influenced by natural hydrological processes, including glacier melt, river discharge and sediment deposition, making it difficult to predict future changes with certainty.

EVIDENCE AND REFERENCES:

June 2, 2026, Pakistan Today report:
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2026/06/02/from-paradise-to-cold-dessert-hunzas-crown-jewel-attabad-lake-is-no-more

June 5, 2025, Pakhtun Digital report:
https://pakhtundigital.com/attabad-lake-a-beautiful-masterpiece-of-nature/

February 2024, research paper on Attabad Lake:
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/16/5/714

Header image via Facebook/The Karakoram Club

This article is part of an iVerify initiative tackling myths and disinformation around climate, supported by Irada and IMS