April 26, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1427

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HARIPUR, April 25: Officials said on Tuesday that the water table at Khanpur dam had come perilously close to its dead level of 1,910 feet, forcing the administration to slash the water share of its beneficiaries.

The officials said that the latest readings had shown that the water table had dropped to 1,923 feet, 13 feet short of its dead level.

“If the current dry spell persists for another 20 days, the authorities of the dam will have no option but to suspend the total outflow of water from the reservoir,” said officials on the condition of anonymity.

Sources privy to the daily water table reading at the Khanpur reservoir said that on account of the dry weather in the catchment areas of Khanpur dam the daily inflow had fallen to 18 ft on April 10 because of which the dam administration had suspended the supply of water for irrigation purposes to Punjab and the NWFP between April 10 and April 17.

Besides, the sources said, the share of CDA Islamabad, Cantonment Board Rawalpindi and other beneficiaries had also been curtailed.

Officials said that before April 10 Punjab and NWFP were receiving about 25 cusecs of their daily share, CDA/RCB (Rawalpindi Cantonment Board) 50 cusecs, Facto Cement/ Heavy Industries Taxila 4.58 cusecs but the ever dropping water table in the dam had made the authorities curtail supply to all beneficiaries.

According to Tuesday morning’s reading the water table at the dam stood at 1923 ft, which was 13 ft short of its dead level of 1910 ft, the inflow was recorded at 21 cusecs and outflow 95 cusecs.

The outflow included 30.55 cusecs of water loss that occurs due to evaporation and seepage. The water reading indicated that the CDA/RCB was being supplied 46 cusecs, Punjab and Frontier provinces receiving 15 cusecs for irrigation purpose, Facto Cement 1.18 cusecs, Heavy Industries Taxila 2 cusecs, Pakistan Military Ordinance PMO Jolian .4 cusecs. The total outflow to beneficiaries recoded as 64.58 cusecs excluding 30.55 cusecs of losses.

When contacted for comments the Project Director Syed Zahir Shah confirmed that the reservoir was left with only 13 ft of water and if the situation remained unchanged the available quantity would meet the requirements for about a month.

In reply to a question, he said that the suspension of irrigation supply was due to water shortage in the reservoir but the supply of municipal water could not be stopped under international law and ECNEC decision.

However, he expressed the fear that the municipal supply to CDA and other beneficiaries could be affected if the dry spell persisted.

To a question, he said that water share to all the dam beneficiaries was fixed by a supervisory committee comprising representatives of Wapda, CDA, RCB, irrigation department of Punjab, NWFP and other beneficiaries, at its fortnightly review meeting.