HARIPUR: The authorities on Saturday started releasing water from the Tarbela Dam for irrigation purposes to the provinces on the directives of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) after a record gap of 42 days as the country reeled from devastating flooding.

“It was for the first time since the 2010 floods that Tarbela reservoir remained filled to its maximum conservation level for consecutive 42 days due to heavy rains in the catchment areas,” said a senior official, adding normally IRSA, the regulatory authority of the Tarbela Dam, directed release of the water from the reservoir when its maximum conservation level remained for no more than a week.

“It has been unusual during the last 12 years that the reservoir has stayed filled to its maximum 1,550 feel capacity for 42 days,” an official source said.

He said the IRSA’s chief engineer operations had allowed release of 95,000 cusecs of water from Tarbela, 91,000 cusecs from Chashma barrage and 26,000 cusecs from Mangla Dam.

“The water discharge from these reservoirs would be on a daily basis and remain unchanged till further instructions from IRSA,” said the official source.

The source said the inflow of water in Tarbela reservoir had reduced to 60,000 cusecs following the end of monsoon season, which had once touched 400,000 cusecs on August 26 during the recent devastated flooding.

The source said the demand for discharge of water for irrigation purposes remained suspended for almost 42 days during the flooding season, and the Tarbela’s spillways were opened intermittently only to release the surplus water for creating space for the new flood system.

It may be added here that usually the spillways of Tarbela Dam are opened on August 20 when the 97-square-kilometre-long reservoir is filled to its maximum storage capacity.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2022