ISLAMABAD, March 5: The water level at the country’s biggest reservoir, Tarbela, on Tuesday touched the dead level of 1,369 feet beyond which withdrawal of any water would endanger power station of the dam, Dawn reliably learnt.
The Wapda and Indus River System Authority have for the first time unanimously recommended to the officials concerned at the Chief Executive Secretariat that no water should be withdrawn from the reservoir beyond the dead level of 1,369 feet, official sources said.
A 20-foot high delta of sand developed upstream Tarbela could slide into the reservoir and silt could sweep into the generators if the water level was reduced from 1,369 feet level, they said.
In the year 1999, the Wapda, on the insistence of provinces, had drawn water from the reservoir up to 40 feet below the dead level, which had caused serious damage to the power station as the huge amount of silt had swept into the turbines, the sources said.
Punjab has already intimated the Irsa that all its canals on the river Indus will be closed down from March 10 upon exhaustion of its water quota, the sources said.
The impact of closure of supply from Tarbela will be felt by Sindh after March 20, as water takes 15 days to reach from Tarbela to Kotri.
Meanwhile, an Irsa meeting is being held on Wednesday to consider formulas presented by Sindh, Punjab and the NWFP and formulate its recommendations.
Sindh has been calling for implementation of the 1991 Water Accord, while Punjab is of the view that in case less than 103 MAF water was available in the rivers, it ought to be divided on the basis of historical uses.
The NWFP, at the last Irsa meeting, had come up with a new distribution formula, suggesting that shares of Punjab and Sindh should be determined on the basis of joint average of historical uses.
Irrigation Secretary Punjab is also expected to attend the meeting on Wednesday. “We have not called irrigation secretaries. The Punjab’s secretary wants to attend the meeting of his own volition,” a source said.
Comments of all the provinces had been sought by the Irsa on the NWFP formula, which would also be discussed at Wednesday’s meeting, the source said.
The chief executive secretariat has also convened a meeting of Irsa officials with President Gen Pervez Musharraf which would be held either on March 15 or 16, depending on the engagements of the president.
The data released on Tuesday showed that the water was only 33 feet above the dead level in Mangla reservoir. The outflow at Mangla was recorded at 28,000 cusecs and inflow at 15,600 cusecs.
“The inflows at Mangla are quite encouraging as compared to those of last year,” an Irsa official said. Last year, in the first week of March, these were recorded at only 5,000 to 6,000 cusecs.