ISLAMABAD, April 13: Projecting an average shortage of about 13 per cent, the Indus River System Authority on Tuesday decided to distribute provincial water share on the actual annual average use basis in the early and late Kharif season , and under para-2 of the 1991 Water Accord during mid-Kharif.
However, Punjab, Sindh and Wapda challenged the Irsa forecasts on different grounds and demanded a re-calculation of water availability and the shortage situation, Irsa sources told Dawn.
The meeting of the Irsa advisory committee held here with chairman Rahim Khan Zarkun in the chair decided to divide shortages in three stages to meet crop requirements and also to ensure that 80pc of the Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs is filled by the end of June.
The shortages start with 40pc during early Kharif and reduce to 7-13pc after April 20. There will be no shortage during the mid-Kharif - between June 10 and August 30. But, it will increase to 25pc in September.
Wapda representatives estimated the shortage at 1pc and 6pc in early and late Kharif, respectively, and thus the overall shortage was put at 4pc. Punjab did not submit any projections but claimed that the shortage would be higher than estimated by Irsa.
Sindh representatives projected that there would be no shortage and hence the distribution of provincial shares should be made on the basis of para-2 of the 1991 Water Accord. The meeting also projected that about 10 million acre feet water would go downstream Kotri, sources said.
Irsa secretary Sohail Ali Khan told Dawn that an experiment had been made to stagger water distribution in three stages according to the provincial crop plans to help provinces better cope with the shortage.
He said that until June 10 water would be distributed on the basis of the actual average annual uses during 1977-82. Since there would be no shortage between June 10 and August 30 owing to snow melting, the distribution would take place in accordance with para-2 of the accord.
Since Punjab requires higher releases during September for its cotton crop and the shortage will be higher at that time, the distribution will revert back to the actual annual use basis.
Meanwhile, water level at Tarbela was recorded at 1,365 feet on Tuesday against the dead level of 1,369 feet. The inflow and discharge was equal at 28,300 cusec. On the other hand, the water level at Mangla stood at 1,057 feet against its dead level of 1,040 feet because storage is now being raised for the late Kharif. The inflow at Mangla was at 29,165 cusec against the discharge of 25,000 cusec.