ISLAMABAD, July 25: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa), on an advice from the Army General Headquarters, has imposed cuts on the supply of irrigation water to the provinces with a view to replenishing storage at Tarbela Dam, Dawn reliably learnt.
The water supply to the provinces has been reduced a second time during the past one week in view of the unexpected shortfall in the flow of River Indus and the resurrection of El Nino weather phenomenon — which entails less rains, a highly-placed source at Irsa said.
Chairman Irsa, Noor Muhammad Baloch, confirmed that they had reduced the water supply to the provinces, saying that “filling of Tarbela Dam is also a cause for concern to them.”
However, he did not comment on a report that they had received an advice from the General Headquarters. Mr Baloch said the storage situation in the country this year was far better than the preceding years.
He pointed out that till the month of July last year, they had only 6.6 MAF of water stored in all the reservoirs. This year they had 7.6 MAF, one million MAF more than last year.
He recalled that in the year 2000, they had a storage of only four MAF of water. Mr Baloch said they expected Tarbella to be filled by the first week of September. Last year, he pointed out, it was filled after September 10.
The filling of Tarbella is vital for the country’s economy as it caters to the needs of the provinces during the cotton sowing season.
The Irsa, he added, had so far released 30 per cent more water than what the provinces had received last year. He said they had increased the water supply to the provinces with the increased flow in the rivers Indus and Jehlum by the end of June and in early July.
The meteorological department, he added, had also predicted normal or average rainfall in the month of July.
The prediction had been made on the basis of satellite images of huge weather system developing in the Arabian sea, but later that system was diverted towards Bangladesh and Nepal, he said.
The Irsa on Thursday cut the water supply to the province of Sindh from Tarbella by about 30,000 cusecs. Sindh was getting 145,000 cusecs a day against its demand of 200,000 cusecs a day, which has been reduced to 125,000 cusecs.
The inflow at Tarbella on Thursday was recorded at 228,100 cusecs and the outflow at 160,000 cusecs.
The supply of water to Punjab from Chashma was reduced from 31,000 cusecs to 27,000 cusecs. However, the outflow from Mangla was increased from 15,000 cusecs to 17,000 cusecs.