Down the stream: Four years on and the irrigation department refuses to flush

SUKKUR:

The discharge capacity of the canals, linked with the Sukkur Barrage, is decreasing every year due to the accumulation of silt in the barrage's pockets. This is happening because the irrigation department hasn't flushed out any water or silt since the 2010 super floods.

According to sources in the irrigation department, they needed around 250,000 cusecs of water at the barrage to carry out a flushing operation, and despite having the required amount this hasn't been done in the last four years.

Sources believe that the flood water brings in tons of silt and other sediments with it which accumulate in the left and right pockets of the barrage. It is recommended standard procedure to carry out a flushing operation every year in order to wash the silt downstream.

The sources said that in order to carry out the operation, they have to close the flow to the canals so the silt doesn't wash into them. Since 2010, they added, landlords and elected representatives had created hurdles and made it difficult for the irrigation department to do their job.

"Previously, more than 300,000 cusecs of water has passed through Sukkur Barrage," said sources in the irrigation department. "But now the barrage authorities can't flush because the elected representatives of the area and landlords don't want to close the canals." They added that, by not flushing, the authorities were damaging the historic structure.

While talking to The Express Tribune, the incharge of the Sukkur Barrage control room, Abdul Aziz Soomro, said that they had not carried out a flushing operation since 2010 due to the farmers demands. He explained that they needed around 250,000 cusecs of steady water at the barrage for at least 72 hours to carry out a flushing operation.

It was imperative to shut the canals for roughly 36 hours to make sure the operation was successful, he said. This year, he added, that flood water coming in from the Punjab was more than 300,000 cusecs but it went downstream within 23 hours and then its levels started receding.

According to Soomro, as there was no rainfall in rural Sindh the farmers, especially those from Balochistan, were demanding that the canals should be left operational. "Normally, their demands to keep the canal open go down by 50 per cent by September," he said. "Since there has been no rainfall, they need the canal water brought through the barrage." He added that the discharge capacity of the canals had gone down in the last four years because of the accumulation of silt.

The executive engineer of the Sukkur Barrage, Zareef Khero, said that they had to ask officials for permission before flushing the barrage's pockets. He added that since the farmers, especially those at the tail end of the receiving end, were constantly demanding water, it was not possible to carry out a flushing operation right now.

"We cannot flush with open canals," he said. "Not only would everything flow downstream, including the silt, but it could clog the canals even more and reduce their discharge capacity."

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2014.