Less Snow, Rain Cause Water Shortage In Dams

Less snow, rain and low water inflow in major rivers caused water shortage in the major reservoirs including Tarbela and Mangla dams.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th May, 2018 ) :Less snow, rain and low water inflow in major rivers caused water shortage in the major reservoirs including Tarbela and Mangla dams. The less storage and inflow also forced the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) to review water share for early Kharif and increased water cut from 31pc to 42pc to the provinces as water inflows remained 15 per cent below the anticipation.

According to IRSA official, "Water inflow remained 15 percent below than anticipation as the actual inflow was recorded as 7.9 million acre feet (MAF) against the anticipated inflows of 9.32 MAF." The Kharif crop season starts from April-June (crucial time for sowing of Kharif crops) and lasts until October-December in different parts of the country.

Rice, sugar cane, cotton and maize are some of the key crops of the season. According to PMD official there was no change in present situation and monsoon situation would be predicted in mid June and the catchments areas received 50 per cent low snow during the winter season.

Meanwhile, on Friday IRSA released 135,800 cusecs water from various rim stations with inflow of 137,000 cusecs. According to the data released by IRSA, water level in the Indus River at Tarbela Dam was 1394.82 feet, which was 14.82 feet higher than its dead level of 1,380 feet.

Water inflow in the dam was recorded as 42,800 cusecs while outflow as 35,300 cusecs. The water level in the Jhelum River at Mangla Dam was 1093.05 feet, which was 53.05 feet higher than its dead level of 1,040 feet whereas the inflow and outflow of water was recorded as 38,400 cusecs and 40,000 cusecs respectively.

The release of water at Kalabagh, Taunsa and Sukkur was recorded as 65,200, 51,600 and 10,200 cusecs respectively. Similarly from the Kabul River, 35,300 cusecs of water was released at Nowshera and 10,600 cusecs from the Chenab River at Marala.