Water situation to be better this Kharif season: IRSA

Pakistan may face up to 10% water shortage in early Kharif season.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan may face still face water shortages, but the situation will be better in the current early Kharif season than the previous season following rise in temperatures in the Himalayas, making more water available for irrigation and hydropower generation.

The country may face water scarcity ranging between 5% and 10% in the early Kharif season starting April to September-end against a shortage of 21% in the previous Kharif season in the same period, when lesser water was available due to slow melting of snow amid cooler temperatures.

“However, we are hopeful that there will be no shortage of water in the late Kharif season,” an official of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) said.

The technical committee of Irsa in its meeting on Monday projected that 110 million acre foot (MAF) of water will be available for the Kharif crops.



The official said that Irsa’s advisory committee was scheduled to meet on March 29 to decide the final distribution of water between provinces for Kharif season cultivation. The Irsa’s technical committee assessed that Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs will be filled during the upcoming Kharif season; therefore no water shortage was expected in the later season.

“We have a carry forward water stock of 1 to 1.5 MAF in reservoirs,” the official said. Punjab had demanded to open the Chashma-Jhelum link canal, to which the technical committee responded that the issue should be tabled before Irsa’s advisory committee.

Punjab also demanded to provision water losses on the higher side, whereas Sindh demanded to maintain them at the lower sides. The technical committee also decided to table the issue before Irsa’s advisory body on March 29.

During the meeting, Sindh’s representatives said that the country will face water system losses of 40% in the upcoming kharif season, otherwise argued by Punjab and Irsa to remain at 20%. Final determination will be made by Irsa’s advisory body on March 29.These losses include water theft and distribution losses due to an obsolete system.

During the previous Kharif season, Irsa had projected 21% water shortage in early Kharif season due to lesser snow melting, which brought water storage in Mangla and Tarbela dams to a dead-level. Owing to water shortage, Irsa had asked provinces to delay cultivations to April 15, 2012 to take advantage of increased water flows due to snow melting.

“However, we are providing water to provinces with no shortages for recent Rabi crops and we are hopeful that there will be no shortage of water in the upcoming late Kharif season,” Irsa official said.

Glaciers usually start melting in March every year and provide enough water for upcoming crops. The enough water availability for Kharif crops will be good news for growers of Sindh and Punjab because of adequate water for Kharif crops.

Cotton, sugarcane and rice are the major Kharif season crops.

According to an official statement as on March 25, water level in Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs stood at 1,406.73 feet and 1,101.60 feet against the dead-level of 1,378 feet and 1,040 feet respectively. Water flow into Tarbela was 37,000 cusecs against outflow of 20,000 cusecs. For Mangla, inflow was 38,000 cusecs against outflow of 35,000 cusecs.

In the last Kharif season, water level in Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs stood at the dead-level. Water flow into Tarbela was 24,000 cusecs against outflow of 23,300 cusecs. For Mangla, inflow was 25,500 cusecs against outflow of 26,400 cusecs.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2013.

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