DADU: Sindh Minister for Irrigation Jam Khan Shoro has warned that rising levels of sediment in the Indus river has pushed Sukkur barrage to the verge of collapse, which in turn may lead to an acute shortage of water in canals and deal a serious blow to the province’s farm sector.

Necessary steps were being taken in the light of reports and surveys carried out by experts to avert constant accumulation of sediment in the river in order to protect Sukkur barrage from destruction, said the minister at concluding ceremony of a diploma course on sediment transport at the US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Water at the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, on Friday. The course was funded by Sindh government under the capacity building programme of irrigation department’s engineers.

‘This may cause an acute shortage of water, deal a blow to Sindh’s farm sector’

The minister said that sediment transport was a crucial problem in the irrigation system of the province. Construction of dams and new canals over the Indus in upper riparian were major causes of the rapid sedimentation in the lower reaches of the river, he said.

He said that command areas of the three barrages’ off-taking canals were not receiving their actual share of water at the end of commands, specially the command area of Kotri barrage and its downstream. “This is the reason the Kotri barrage is suffering from heavy sediment load and capacity of canals has decreased,” he said.

Shoro said that acute shortage of water had badly affected condition of Sukkur barrage as there was no water to flush off sediment from upstream to downstream of the barrage.

He said that water shortage was the major cause of silting at all three barrages of Sukkur, Guddu and Kotri. “It is the root cause of sediment load delivering at tertiary canals,” he said.

Indus delta was also suffering from water scarcity as major quantum of water was diverted by the upper riparian, he said.

Chief engineer of irrigation Zarif Khero said that the total sediment load in one barrage was calculated at about 30 million tonnes during the flood of 2010.

Engineer Imran Aziz Tunio, technical expert of Sindh Barrages Improvement Project of Sukkur and Guddu barrages, said that the sediment had greatly increased at the three barrages. “This has affected maintenance of pond level in the river, which is causing problems in supply of water to canals,” he said.

Chief Engineer Shafqat Hussain Wadho said that gauge level at Guddu barrage had been officially recorded at 260 feet during the flood of 2010 while at that time, the gauge levels were above 268 feet. There were no such official figures available though it was the responsibility of the irrigation department to keep proper record of water level during super floods, he said.

Secretary irrigation Sindh Sohail Ahmed Qureshi said that the training would enhance capacity of engineers of his department and enable them to face untoward situations during disasters.

Dr Kamran Ansari of MUET, Dr Sajid Ali, Dr Asghar Mahesar, Rasool Bux Mahar and others also spoke.

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2022