Come Kharif season in Sindh, smaller growers start campaigning against water shortage while the high and the mighty manage their supplies by hook or crook. This unfair water management in the province needs to be looked into, and the depleted irrigation system needs to be upgraded.

Seasonal conditions favour growers of lower Sindh to have early sowing. So they cultivate their crops in April and May, depending on subsequent water supplies that are usually difficult to avail.

The irrigation department provides water to non-perennial canals that are opened during Kharif season alone as they remain closed for rest of the year.

Farmers say currently water shortage in command area of Kotri barrage, which has two non-perennial canals, is severe. Such low water flows in channels were witnessed only in 1986.

Shortage is attributed to low efficiencies and irregularities between upper and lower riparian, be it between Chashma-Taunsa, Taunsa-Guddu, Guddu-Sukkur and Sukkur-Kotri command areas, resulting in huge system losses.

Farmers of Kotri barrage command area need water for rice cultivation, cotton and standing cane crops in Kharif. Sukkur barrage’s tail-end areas especially in Naseer division suffer badly too for shortage of water.

Figures show that Kotri barrage recorded 62pc of water shortage at upstream on June 17. When it comes to distribution of water at distributory level, the situation worsens. The same day Guddu barrage recorded 24pc and Sukkur 23pc shortage respectively.

Allocations for every canal/barrage over Indus are determined under 1991 Water Accord on a ten-day basis that means availability of water for first, second and third ten days in each month of a year.

In case of Sindh, water is provided to Balochistan through Guddu barrage’s Pat Feeder and Sukkur barrage’s North Western canals.

According to a decision of the Indus River System Authority, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are exempted from sharing shortages though the Water Accord provides that shortages will be shared by the provinces equally.

Guddu barrage’s upstream flows were recorded at 119,000 cusec upstream and 89,000 cusec downstream on June 17. Its three canals have allocation of 37,540 cusec but 29,550 cusec was made available with 24pc shortage being recorded.

The same day Sukkur barrage upstream flows stood at 67,000 cusec and 21,000 cusec downstream. As per 10-daily allocation, it needs 58,200 cusec for its seven canals but withdrawals were recorded at 46,465 cusec with 23pc water shortage.

Kotri barrage remains most hit where 12,115 cusec of discharge was recorded upstream against allocation of 32,640 cusec. With zero downstream discharges the barrage’s canals were drawing 12,115 on June 17.

Irrigation officials meet requirements of non-perennial canals and of Balochistan, only when they maintain pond level at Sukkur and Guddu barrages that affect downstream supplies for Kotri barrage so they fail to ensure equity in sharing shortages at three barrages. Most important thing for them is abnormal system/losses between reaches of Chashma-Taunsa, Taunsa-Guddu, Guddu-Sukkur and Sukkur-Kotri barrages given the distances between these barrages.

Rajput ascribed the losses to possible misreporting of discharges at Tarbela, time delay in water releases at Chashma Hydro power station and illegal pumping of water in riverbed in the reaches.

“When flows are released in river ithey spill over from main section to delay travel time. Then illegal withdrawal of water between Chashma and Taunsa barrages certainly block flows”, he says and adds that Irsa predicted 20pc losses but practically it is 40pc.

Sukkur barrage officials point out that 200,000 cusec of water was released from Chashma for Taunsa on June 15. With 10pc acceptable system losses between the two barrages 180,000 cusec discharge should have been recorded at Taunsa upstream on June 17 instead of 154,000 cusec.

Likewise, with 15pc losses between Taunsa down and Guddu upstream, 119,000 cusec discharge was recorded at Guddu upstream on June 17 rather than 131,000 cusec.

The situation got aggravated when water reached Kotri barrage to put farmers in a fix, forcing particularly those who have their lands at tail-ends of distributaries to protest.

Ahmed Zeeshan Bhatti, an official of Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources says, “Meters should be installed at different levels to determine usage of water by farmers as per their share. We give flow based supply water to farmers when it is not needed and don’t supply when needed badly. We need reforms in the system that can solve our problems”, Bhatti adds.

Water losses figures, say officials, show that 46,000 cusec of water remained unaccounted for between Chashma-Taunsa. Losses like evaporation, high velocity winds and absorption etc are understandable but such huge deficit is mind-boggling. In a recent communication, Sindh Secretary Irrigation Babar Effendi has brought the abnormal losses between Chashma-Guddu barrages to the notice of IRSA.

“Given distances between Guddu and Sukkur barrage and Sukkur and Kotri, the water losses offer confusing reading”, argues Abdul Majeed Nizamani, president Sindh Abadgar Board. His assessment is that around 22,000 cusec went missing in Guddu-Sukkur reaches as the former released 89,000 cusec and the latter got 67,000 cusec of water after covering 150 kilo meters distance. But 8,885 cusec of water is lost in Sukkur- Kotri reach when the former released 21,000 cusec and latter received 12,115 cusec of water after covering a distance of close to 300 kilometers It is time that the existing irrigation system be reformed instead of covering up inefficiency of officials and the system.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, June 23rd, 2014

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