ISLAMABAD, March 30: Differences among various stakeholders on anticipated water availability on Tuesday forced the technical committee of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) to withhold finalization of water shortage estimates for the Kharif season.
"The meeting remained inconclusive", Irsa secretary Sohail Ali Khan told reporters after the meeting. He said the estimates for the Kharif season would be finalized in a couple of days after incorporating views of all the parties and then these estimates would be communicated to the provinces accordingly.
The meeting was presided over by Irsa chief engineer Amanullah and attended by the representatives of all the four provinces and Wapda. "This year, the water shortage would be higher than last year but generally the country has come out of the drought-like situation it faced for three years", Mr Amanullah told Dawn.
Distribution of water among the provinces would continue to be made on historic-use basis because the higher authorities have not yet taken a decision to revert back to the normal accord based on water releases, another senior Irsa official told Dawn.
The official said water shortage would be comparatively higher during early Kharif because current releases were being made on run-of-the-river basis and temperatures in the Northern Areas "have not risen to a level that could increase river flows."
The Sindh representatives demanded that filing and depletion of Mangla and Tarbela dams be done proportionately and simultaneously. The technical committee, however, did not oblige, saying that hydrology of Mangla was such that the upper areas of Punjab would remain un-irrigated if Mangla was depleted earlier. Sindh would also be compensated from Tarbela, the official said.
The official said that it was decided to start filling Mangla Dam in April and May in a fashion that it is filled up to 80 per cent by June 30, 2004. Mr Sohail said Irsa had estimated water shortage by three to seven per cent under the maximum water availability situation and as such projected an average shortage of five per cent during the whole season.
However, water availability projections by Wapda suggested six per cent shortage and in Punjab at seven per cent. Hence it was decided to incorporate their estimates as well in the final figure.
He declined to divulge estimates made by Irsa or the expected share of the provinces, saying these were of no significance now as the situation would change when estimates of Wapda and Punjab are also incorporated.
The estimates presented by Wapda suggested an average of 55 per cent water availability in Indus at Tarbela, 75 per cent in Kabul at Nowshera, 50 per cent in Jehlum at Mangla and 60 per cent in Chenab at Marala.
Responding to a question, Irsa secretary said no province raised any controversial point in the technical committee meeting because it could have created problems for the two high-profile committees currently working on water issues under instructions from the president.
