HYDERABAD, July 13: The Indus river downstream Kotri barrage which gives the look of parched wasteland dotted with sand dunes most of the year has lately received a few thousand cusecs of water, barely enough to soak the thirsting riverbed but of some use to farmland and the deltaic region.

According to a study, at least 5,000 cusecs are required daily throughout the year for the delta to blossom and thrive while Sindh demands release of 10MAF water post-Kotri barrage annually under the 1991 water accord.

The meagre or almost no supply of water downstream Kotri impacts badly Sindh’s agriculture and river ecology and causes sea intrusion, destruction of coastal forests, land degradation and, finally, a virtual death of the delta.

Environmental activist Mohammad Ali Shah, who is head of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), insisted that it was not just an issue of release of a few thousand cusecs of water downstream Kotri. It concerned the ecology of the river which had seriously suffered since the construction of dams upstream, he said.

The Indus delta is said to be the fifth largest in the world and according to the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature, the river flows 3,000 km before emptying into the delta which covers an area of around 41,440 kilometres and is 210km across where it meets the sea. Except for 2010 when 54.5MAF water went downstream the Kotri barrage because of what as known as a ‘super flood’ in technical parlance it does not receive that much water for years.

According to chief engineer of the Kotri barrage Salman Memon, 25.3MAF was released in 2005; 21.7MAF in 2006; 15.7 MAF in 2007; 5.8MAF in 2008; 4.06MAF in 2009; 14.2MAF in 2011 and 6.2MAF in 2012. A study sponsored by the federal government and carried out by International Panel of Experts (IPoE) in 2005, advised 5,000 cusecs should be released downstream Kotri daily throughout the year. While Sindh had demanded 10MAF release of water post-Kotri barrage annually under the 1991 water accord.

Irrigation expert Idris Rajput said the government failed to act on the IPoE advice because “…we lack discipline to fill our reservoirs of Mangla and Tarbela”.

The Kharif season in Sindh sets in earlier than Punjab’s and that is why Sindh’s growers always cry for water in April when reservoirs are being filled upcountry and controversial link canals are opened to divert Indus waters.

Mr Rajput said that when Sindh needed water for Kharif this year, level of Mangla was 1,102RL against the dead level of 1,046RL, indicating storage of 56 feet of water at that time, which was not used to feed the command area of the Jhelum and the Chenab and, instead, link canals on the Indus were operated to take water from the river. Level of Tarbela, however, was reduced by drawing water from it but Mangla’s was kept intact, he said. “That’s why we say there is no discipline in filing of reservoirs. I say let Punjab declare it has exclusive right over Mangla and Sindh won’t get water from it. Then we can take a position on the link canals,” he said.

Punjab Water Council chairman Hamid Malhi claimed that Pakistan’s water storage capacity was on the decline at an annual rate of one per cent yet no reservoirs were being built.

Sindh and other provinces agriculture output was 20 per cent against Punjab’s 80 per cent whereas Punjab’s share was determined at 54MAF against Sindh’s 48MAF under the water accord.

He tried to justify different filling patterns of Tarbela and Mangla and said Mangla could only be filled through the Jhelum whereas Tarbela was filled during melting of glaciers and monsoon rains.

“If Sindh is given water from Mangla it will lead to huge water losses. If 5,000 cusecs of water is to reach Guddu then 15,000 cusecs will have to be released from Mangla. Will such a huge loss be advisable?” he argued.

He said that Pakistan’s storage capacity was 16MAF in 1976 which had dropped to 11MAF today when Pakistan’s population had swollen to 180 million. He reiterated the call for the construction of the controversial Kalabagh dam and said that Sindh needed to streamline its internal water distribution.

Mr Rajput strongly differed with him. “Why is the Bhasha dam not being built which is not so far embroiled in any controversy? When the Mangla dam is to be filled when there is no surplus water in the system then water shouldn’t be drawn from link canals. It’s not fair that Punjab should maintain level at Mangla and at the same time draw water from link canals at a time when Sindh badly needs water,” he said.

Sindh Abadgar Board general secretary Syed Mahmood Nawaz Shah said that it was illogical and cruel to fill dams for Rabi crop at the cost of major crops of Kharif season. Water could be stored in Mangla between June and August when it usually rained, he said. “Strategy of filling dams is like a well-guarded secret for us. To end the controversy once and for all, we should at least be told once and for all that Mangla is a property of Punjab alone and Sindh has no right over it. The dam is filled when Punjab doesn’t need water for sowing,” he said.

He demanded that water should be stored as per the 1991 water accord after meeting ten daily requirements of provinces. Population downstream Kotri was completely dependent on the river water for cultivation and consumption, he said. PFF’s Mr Shah said the world was deliberating on maintaining environmental flows to sustain life in the delta. The PFF demands that at least 35MAF should be released downstream Kotri in a year to help save the Indus delta, he said.

“Before construction of dams over the Indus 180MAF used to flow into the sea with tonnes of silt deposits that were beneficial for agriculture, livestock, orchards and fisheries and helped keep sea in check,” he said.

Tahir Qureshi of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) agreed with Mr Shah and said: “We are witnessing an ecological disaster due to diversion of Indus waters. We have lost riverine forests, coastal fisheries and agriculture, palla fish, etc.” he said.

“The situation can be tackled only through wise management and conservation of water, otherwise water flows will keep depleting with passage of time,” he said.