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06 October 2004
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Wednesday
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20 Shaban 1425
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New studies on water planned: Kotri barrage riverine areas
By Ihtashamul Haque
ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: The government has decided to get two separate studies conducted to determine water requirements to sustain present irrigation in the riverine areas between Kotri Barrage and the sea, and domestic water use
for the rural population below the barrage.
Official sources told Dawn here on Tuesday that the government had directed the authorities concerned to also conduct study on water escapages below Kotri Barrage to check sea water intrusion for which terms of references (TORs) had been approved by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa). Both the studies will be carried out under the National Drainage Programme (NDP).
The government wanted to determine the minimum desirable quantity of Indus water that needed to pass through the barrage throughout the year to alleviate adverse impacts, if any, downstream of Kotri Barrage.
The proposed studies will suggest structural and non-structural measures to arrest the current salt water intrusion into delta areas from the sea. Under the programme, data will be collected on the population changes, their location and the impact of waste and industrial pollution on the natural environment likely to be affected by the changing release pattern.
Various changes will be identified in the forest size, density and health, since Kotri Barrage became operational and determine the likely causes for those changes. Past and present role of the mangrove forest in socio-economies of the area will also be determined and the effects of years of low flows and high flows on the mangrove forests will be analyzed.
The studies would also determine the effects on the fishery industries of developments on the Indus River (past and future) and recommend ecological and sound alternative agricultural practices to minimize water use upstream and adverse environmental impacts in the study area.
Both the studies would also identify the pollutants that are entering the system from sources below Kotri Barrage and recommend actions needed to control or dilute pollutants to acceptable level.
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