KARACHI, July 27: The Sindh government has been withholding the water quota of 1,200 cusecs required for Greater Karachi Water Scheme, commonly called K-IV, for the last five years, it emerged on Wednesday.

This disclosure came to light through a letter, written by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) to the Sindh irrigation secretary in 2004 and whose copy has been obtained by Dawn, which stated that the Sindh share allocated under the 1991 water accord already included 2,400 cusecs for sanctioned urban and industrial uses for Karachi.The letter which the Irsa’s chief engineer had written to the provincial secretary for irrigation and power department in response to the latter’s letter No.10/1343-S.O(PL)/2003/3153 (dated 09.02.2004) clearly states inter alia: “Sindh share allocated under para 2 already includes sanctioned urban & industrial uses for metropolitan Karachi and, therefore, the additional water requirements of 2,400 cusecs for Karachi has to be met by Sindh out of its allocated share in Water Accord 1991.”

The letter was written in response to the then provincial secretary irrigation’s request to Irsa to examine the matter and issue a water availability certificate of 2,100 cusecs to meet the water requirement of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board for the city.

Apprising the irrigation secretary about the factual position concerning the city’s requirement of an additional 1,200 cusecs for the K-IV project, the Irsa official in his letter stated: i) All existing and future water availability including flood flows and future water storages has been apportioned amongst the provinces in para 2, 3 and 4 of Water Accord 1991 and there is no additional water available for further distribution and ii) Sindh share allocated under para 2 already includes sanctioned urban & industrial uses for Karachi.

The Irsa’s letter explained that in view of this position any additional requirement of water supply to Karachi has to be met by Sindh out of its existing allocated share, as no water outside the accord was available for further distribution.

“Irsa, therefore, cannot issue additional water availability certificate out of Water Accord 1991 nor it can withdraw water from any province apportioned under para 3 and 4 of the accord. Therefore, the additional water requirement of 2,400cusecs for Karachi has to be met by Sindh out of its allocated share in Water Accord 1991.”

According to a decision arrived at a meeting of the chief ministers of all the four provinces held on March 16, 1991, the apportionment of the waters of the Indus River system agreed between the provinces is as follows:

Punjab: 55.94 million acre feet (37.07 for Kharif and 18.87 for Rabi seasons), Sindh: 48.76 MAF (33.94 for Kharif and 14.82 for Rabi), NWFP (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa): a): 5.78 MAF (3.48 for Kharif and 2.30 for Rabi) and b) Civil Canals 3MAF (1.80 for Kharif and 1.20 for Rabi), and Balochistan: 3.87MAF (2.85 for Kharif and 1.02 for Rabi).

Going through the contents of the letter, independent sources in the Sindh government told Dawn that the KWSB with the commissioning of K-III Project in 2006 had already consumed 1,200 cusecs of the 2,400 cusecs share allocated for Karachi in the Water Accord 1991, it was obligatory upon the Sindh government to release the remaining 1,200 cusecs of water which the water utility required for undertaking the much-delayed K-IV project.

The KWSB on the directives of former city Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal had initiated a study and a feasibility report of the K-IV project shortly after the commissioning of the K-III project in 2006. But its many requests to the Sindh government for the grant of additional 1,200 cusecs water for the project have gone unheeded.

Commenting on the disclosure that the Sindh share allocated under para 2 of the 1991 Water Accord already included 2,400 cusecs sanctioned for urban and industrial uses for Karachi, a senior officer of the KWSB, who had earlier served as managing director of the utility, said that the provincial government should immediately allocate 1,200 cusecs of water required for the K-IV project.

He added that the city’s population had already risen to around 20 million in the wake of its rapid annual population growth rate of six per cent (including three per cent increase due to influx of people from other parts of the country) besides the metropolis being a hub of industrial and commercial activities was contributing 68 per cent to the national exchequer.

Asked how much time it would take to complete the first phase of the project whereby the city would get additional 240mgd of water, he said that if the issue concerning the quota of water was resolved immediately and work on the project commenced this year, it would be accomplished by 2014. He said that there was a possibility of water riots if the gap in the city’s supply and demand further rose.

Highlighting the importance of the K-IV project, sources said that the project was not only aimed at bridging the existing gap between the city’s supply and demand but was also essential to meet its future requirement up to 2025.

The sources said that had the provincial irrigation department not withheld the 1,200 cusecs of water which Irsa had allocated for meeting the city’s water needs in the 1991 Water Accord, not only the first phase of the project whereby the city would get additional 240 million gallons of water would have been commissioned this year (2011) but its cost would not have jumped by 40 to 50 per cent due to growing inflation.

Moreover, they said, Ecnec would not have turned down the KWSB request for approving the K-IV project if the Sindh irrigation department had informed the relevant authorities that the 1,200 cusecs of water being sought by the KWSB for the K-IV project was already included in the provincial share of water allocated from Indus River in the 1991 Water Accord.

Sindh Irrigation Secretary Khalid Haider Memon was not available for comment on the issue.