Indus River System Authority Prepares Interim Water Availability Criteria For Kharif Season 2020

Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has prepared interim water availability criteria for Kharif season 2020 scheduled to start from April 1

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Mar, 2020 ) :Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has prepared interim water availability criteria for Kharif season 2020 scheduled to start from April 1.

The interim plan was made by the Authority based on consultations with provincial irrigation departments of Punjab and Sindh, said a press release issued on Monday.

The provinces were requested to place their interim indents looking to the above criteria prepared by IRSA till its finalisation by IRSA Advisory Committee at some later date.

As per the interim Criteria the likely expected flows for early Kharif and late Kharif 2020 were 28.663 million acre feet (MAF) and 82.073 MAF, respectively, and the total expected flows for the season were 110.734 MAF.

Catering to the seasonal storage filling requirements of 7.916 MAF, expected conveyance losses of 17.600 MAF and unavoidable escapages during flood season of 14.582 MAF, the balance left for Punjab and Sindh, after allowing full water to KP and Balochistan, was 18.930 MAF and 48.034 MAF in Early Kharif and Late Kharif 2020, respectively. The total seasonal balance was 66.

964 MAF.

According to the IRSA data, Pakistan's current water situation was very promising in comparison with last year and last 10 years of hydrological data. The total water inflows on March 28, 2020 were 249,100 cusecs as compared historical average of 102,600 cusecs and last year's average of 80,300 cusecs, it further said.

The reservoir storage was 4.894 MAF against 10-years average of 1.076 MAF and last year's figure 0.611 MAF.

The provincial indents were being completely met-with and there was no shortage, with 6,864 cusecs flowing downstream Kotri.

Above average rainfall occurred over catchments of Rim-stations in March 2020, allowing IRSA to provide indented supplies to the provinces without any shortage and also efficiently storing the surplus in Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs.

Due to above average rainfall during Rabi 2019-2020 the catchments were covered with abundant snowfall.

Meanwhile, due to rapid spread and transmission of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), IRSA had already postponed meetings of its Technical and Advisory Committees.