Provinces To Face 30% Water Shortage For Early, 4% For Late Kharif Season

Indus River System Authority (IRSA) Advisory Committee on Tuesday anticipated 30 per cent water shortage for early Kharif season while seven per cent for late Kharif season

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Apr, 2024) Indus River System Authority (IRSA) Advisory Committee on Tuesday anticipated 30 per cent water shortage for early Kharif season while seven per cent for late Kharif season.

The committee met here with IRSA chairman Abdul Hameed Mengal, Chairman IRSA / Member IRSA Balochistan in the Chair to finalize Kharif Season 2023 (April-September) water availability criteria. The meeting was attended by IRSA members, Member (Water) WAPDA, Member (Power) WAPDA, WAPDA Advisors, GM&PD TBD and T4 HPP, Secretaries Provincial Irrigation Departments (PIDs) of Punjab and Sindh and their representatives, representatives of KP and Balochistan, Representative of Provincial Agricultural Department (PAD) of Punjab, Director, Met Department, Director (Opr) / Secretary IRSA and other senior technical personnel of IRSA.

The Water Accord 1991 empowered IRSA to determine water availability in the country and provincial share twice a year, once for Kharif season and the other for Rabi season. Rabi season starts from October 1 and ends on March 31, while Kharif starts from April 1 and continues till September 30.

As per the work out of the Advisory Committee Rim Station inflow in Indus Basin System is anticipated to 99.41 Million Acre Feet (MAF). As per the anticipation early Kharif inflows will be 23.55 MAF, and 75.87 MAF in late Kharif season.

Of the 99.41 MAF Rim Station inflow, it is anticipated that 12.06 MAF will be stored during the season. As per the anticipation 4.52 MAF will be stored in early Kharif while 7.54 MAF will be stored in later Kharif. Similarly, the system losses during the season will be 13.67 MAF, for the earlier Kharif season it is anticipated that loses will be 5.21 MAF, while for the late Kharif season it will be 8.46 MAF. The total water availability for the season has been estimated to be 73.69 MAF, which is 13.82 MAF for the earlier and 59.87 MAF for the later Kharif season.

Water flows below Kotri barrage is anticipated to be 10.08 MAF in later Kharif, while in early Kharif there will be no downstream release. It has been anticipated that water availability at canal heads will be 63.61 MAF, which is 13.82 MAF for early Kharif and 49.79 MAF for later Kharif season. Allocations for KP and Balochistan during the season will be 3.

67 MAF, which is 0.63 MAF for early Kharif and 3.04 MAF in later Kharif. Punjab and Sindh will get 59.94 MAF during the season. For early Kharif Punjab and Sindh will get 13.19 MAF and 46.75 MAF for later Kharif. Since Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were exempted from cuts in the share, the shortage of water would be distributed between Sindh and the Punjab

The Advisory Committee reviewed the Rabi 2023-24 (Oct-Mar) system operation and showed satisfaction about the overall seasonal close at 17 % shortages against the anticipated shortfall of 15%.

Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) highlighted that during winter snowfall in the catchments of Indus & Jhelum recorded at 34.8 inches against the normal of 50.5 inches i.e. 31% less. PMD also forecasted higher than normal temperatures during upcoming Kharif Season.

It was agreed that Provinces of Punjab & Sindh would activate their respective Discharge Observation Cells (DOCs) for data reporting at different locations. Punjab SDOs will be stationed at Guddu, Sukkur & Kotri Barrages in Sindh, while

Sindh SDOs will monitor the discharges at Jinnah H/W, Chashma Barrage, Taunsa H/W & Panjnad H/W in Punjab.

The DOCs will share their reports with their respective departments & IRSA on daily basis. Besides this, Joint Discharge Measurements will also be conducted through neutral experts / department under the supervision of Member IRSA Punjab, Sindh & KP in the presence of Provincial Representatives at different locations during Early Kharif period. Punjab and Sindh ensured that the DOCs of both the provinces would be activated within fortnight as it will promote inter-provincial harmony and trust.

WAPDA briefed the Advisory Committee about the operational constraints of availability of T3, T4, T5 & LLO and it was unanimously decided to constitute a committee comprising Member IRSA (Punjab) & Member IRSA (Sindh) along with nominated Chief Engineers from PID Punjab and PID Sindh to physically review and monitor the sites and furnish the report for resolution of the operational constraints.

Mangla authorities briefed the committee about Mangla operational constraints and after detailed deliberations, Member (Power) WAPDA assured that all irrigation indents would be fulfilled during Kharif 2024.