ISLAMABAD: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has called back-to-back meetings of its technical and advisory committee on March 25 and 26 for finalisation of water estimates and provincial shares for the coming Kharif season amid uncertainties over filling capacity of Tarbela Dam.

The meetings are taking place at a crucial stage when the Tarbela and Mangla dams are at their dead level, meaning there is no water storage at all. The provinces are facing 51 per cent water shortage at rim stations.

The actual shortage at canal heads is estimated to exceed 60pc.

This is hampering the last watering of mainly wheat crop just ahead of its harvest, threatening to affect output.

This also means the Kharif season, which begins on April 1, would take off with zero carryover water storage.

As if this were not enough, construction works at tunnels 4 and 5 of Tarbela dam could not be completed in line with committed schedules. Some of these structures were closed in Dec 2022 for 33 months, but are reportedly behind schedule.

In a letter to provincial irrigation departments and Wapda, the water regulator has called a meeting of the Irsa Technical Committee (ITC) on March 25 for finalisation of anticipated water availability for Kharif.

The provincial representatives have been asked to attend the meeting to finalise water availability criteria using the Water Apportionment Accord (WAA) tool supported by Australian government.

This will be followed on March 26 by a meeting of the advisory committee, led by the Wapda chairman and comprising four provincial and federal members of Irsa, besides chairmen of Wapda, the Federal Flood Commission, the director general of Pakistan Meteorological Department and the four provincial irrigation secretaries.

The advisory committee is likely to approve water availability estimates to be prepared by Irsa’s technical committee and allocation of provincial shares.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2025