Cleaning process: Out with the old

Tons of accumulated silt will be flushed into the Sukkur Barrage downstream

SUKKUR: The water level at Guddu and Sukkur barrages is constantly receding, while it is increasing at Kotri Barrage. Tons of silt, brought by the flash flood, has accumulated in Sukkur Barrage, which will be flushed into the downstream once the water level reaches the 200,000 cusec mark.

No flushing operation has been conducted at Sukkur Barrage since the super flood of 2010, due to which tons of silt has accumulated in the river.

On Thursday, the upstream at Guddu Barrage was 640,896 cusecs and the downstream was 613,929 cusecs, while, at Sukkur Barrage, the upstream was 658,070 cusecs and downstream was 604,565 cusecs. At Kotri Barrage, the upstream was 597,565 cusecs while 565,730 cusecs of water is being released in its downstream. The Sukkur Barrage control room incharge, Abdul Aziz Soomro, said that the water level at Guddu and Sukkur barrages is constantly receding, while it is increasing at the Kotri Barrage.



Soomro said that tons of silt has accumulated in the river at the right pocket of Sukkur Barrage, which needs flushing. He said once the water level goes down to 200,000 cusecs a flushing operation will be carried out to wash away tons of silt in the downstream. He said it was because of the accumulation of tons of silt that the water level at Sukkur Barrage appeared to be more than the actual gauge. Soomro explained that the flushing operation can only be conducted when 200,000 cusecs of water is available to be discharged and all canals are closed to avoid silt seeping into them.

In 2013, they were ready to carry out the flushing operation but failed to do so because they received indents of canals for Rabi season, according to Soomro. In 2014, there was not enough water to carry out the operation, but now there is more than enough water. He said that efforts will be made to conduct the flushing operation before the Rabi season begins in October.

A dredger is needed to flush out the silt in the downstream and while the barrage authorities have one, it is not working properly. The dredger stationed on the right side of the River Indus in Sukkur actually belongs to Nara Canal and was shifted to Sukkur Barrage for de-silting purposes, however, since it failed to work, it has been left unattended in the river. Sukkur Barrage chief engineer Wali Muhammad Naich was not available for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2015.