ISLAMABAD – IRSA’s technical committee has anticipated up to 19 per cent water shortage for the early Kharif season, which is less than initial anticipation of up to 40 percent, due to improved water inflows in rivers and increase in dams’ level.
The meeting of the IRSA’s advisory committee has been convened on April 8, 2021, to approve the anticipated water availability criteria for Kharif 2021. The meeting, to be held online, will be chaired by Chairman IRSA and will be attended by the provincial members IRSA, member water WAPDA, member power WAPDA and all the provincial irrigation and agriculture secretaries.
The meeting will also discuss T3/4 Tarbela power house constraints. WAPDA has requested to keep the Tarbella level at 1417 feet till June 10, said an official source to The Nation.
The Water Accord 1991 empowered IRSA to determine water availability in the country and provincial share twice a year, once for Kharif season and the other for RABI season. Rabi season starts from October 1st, while Kharif starts from April 1st. Since Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were exempted from cuts in the share, the shortage in water would be distributed between Sindh and Punjab.
According to the source, the meeting of the IRSA’s technical committee held in the last week of March had anticipated the availability of RIM inflows at 105 to 112 MAF for Kharif 2021 (April to September). The recommendations of the technical committee will be forwarded to the advisory committee which will make the final decisions regarding the water availability.
As per the technical committee anticipation, the provinces will receive 65 to 69 MAF of water during the season, the source said. It has been anticipated by the technical committee that the provinces will face a shortages of 12 to 19 percent early Kharif, while in late Kharif there will be zero shortages, the source maintained.
The source said that it was also calculated that the losses will be up to 16 percent or 13 to 18 MAF. Similarly the flows below Kotri will be 12 to 18 MAF.
Initially it was anticipated that the country is likely to face 30 to 40 percent water shortage during the early Kharif season in case the country receives no heavy rain spells. During last 20 days, the water availability situations has considerably improved in the reservoirs. Tarbella, which was just 10 feet above than the dead level in mid March, has reached above 27 feet than the dead level of 1492 feet. Mangla against the minimum operating level of 1050 feet was at 1108.45 feet but has now increased to 1131 feet. Similarly Chashma, which was 5 feet above than its dead level, is now almost 10 feet the dead level. The Kharif season lasts from April 1 to September 30, and rice, sugarcane, cotton and maize are some of the key crops.
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