Punjab protests over ‘irrationally high’ river losses in Indus Zone

LAHORE: Punjab has officially protested with Indus River System Authority (IRSA) over ‘irrationally high’ river water losses in Indus Zone, it was learnt on Tuesday.

In a letter written to IRSA, prime water regulation body, Punjab did not agree with the decision taken in IRSA Advisory Committee meeting held on April 6, 2023 regarding the adaptation of 37 percent losses in the Indus Zone.

Punjab is of the view that these losses are not rational as the same are not based on actual discharge measurement. Therefore, it is advised to consider the losses of 10 percent initially in Indus Zone for the early Kharif period, between April 1 and June 10, based on the actual measurements made during February 2023.

Further, as emphasised in the Advisory Committee meeting, Punjab held the view that actual discharge measurements should be carried out on weekly basis during early Kharif period to determine the actual losses between Taunsa Barrage in Punjab and Guddu Barrage in Sindh, and same losses be adopted in next 10 day period. This practice should be continued for the whole Kharif season.

It is pertinent to mention here that, IRSA, in its various Advisory Committee Meetings Minutes ie, for Kharif 2021, Rabi 2021-22 and Kharif 2022, decided to carryout actual discharge measurements, but unfortunately, could not do it due to lack of interest of relevant stakeholders.

As regards the actual discharge measurements at various Rim Stations, it is pointed out that all the Rim Stations are under the control of WAPDA except Chenab at Marala. Punjab has no objection to carry out the actual discharge measurement at any point including at Marala in this context within the province.

Sindh always highlights taking discharge observation at Punjab locations and particularly tried to avoid taking observations of actual discharge in Taunsa-Guddu reach, the letter reads.

On the contrary, Punjab has the stance that the actual discharge measurement between Taunsa-Guddu reach must be carried out immediately without further delay as it is the main bone of contention between the two provinces.

In view of the foregoing, Punjab wrote, it is strongly requested that rather than adopting irrational losses of 37 percent, IRSA must adopt 10 percent losses in Indus Zone based on the actual measurement carried out at Taunsa-Guddu reach.

In this context, Punjab stresses, IRSA should issue timeline for the actual discharge measurement in order to carry out the actual discharge measurements within defined period, the official letter concludes.

It should be noted that the row between Punjab and Sindh over calculation of water conveyance losses in Indus Zone has not been resolved for the last many years.

According to an official, Punjab agreed with Sindh’s proposal to involve a third party in calculating water losses with a view to resolve this contentious issue and once for all.

For this purposes, services of International Water Management Institute (IWMI) were to be hired and several brainstorming sessions were held to formulate an innovative proposal for independently observing water flows.

However, consensus over tools to be used by IWMI could not be reached and Sindh finally backed out of the proposed water measurement mechanism.