Sindh at war with Irsa over water losses

Tells Centre its standing crops are in jeopardy; cuts water flows

destined to reach Balochistan by 40pc

ISLAMABAD: In a new development, Sindh has told the federal government that its standing crops are in jeopardy because of massive cut in its water share by the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) and sought a meeting of advisory council as soon as possible.

In a letter to Secretary Water and Power Yunas Dagha, a copy of which is available with The News, the low riparian federating unit raised the issue of provision of less water from its share informing the government that its standing crops are in the red zone by virtue of less availability of water and if the appalling situation is not addressed, then it will trigger food insecurity.

Meanwhile, Sindh, which is demanding water against the 40 percent losses in the reach between Chashma to Kotri, has reduced water flows destined to reach Balochistan by 40 percent, reveals the latest official correspondence of Balochistan to Irsa Secretariat that is also available with this correspondent.

The adversely affected Balochistan has in return moved the water regulator asking for more cuts in water flows to Sindh showing that how mismanagement in filling of dam has opened a new Pandora’s box for the federating units.

However, the Irsa has convened a meeting of advisory council on August 30 to be attended by the four provincial irrigation secretaries, Irsa members and representatives of Wapda and federal government. 

The meeting will trash out the grievances of Sindh and the new water distribution dispute between Sindh and Balochistan.

It will also thrash out a plan to save the standing crops by ensuring water availability. The meeting will also figure out the impact of current water situation on the Rabi crops.

The official at Irsa says the water regulator is of the view that rescored shows that in the reach between Chashma and Kotri the conveyance losses stand at 20-30 percent, but Sindh is seeking 40 percent losses.

The water availability crisis has stemmed from failure of Wapda in filling the dam this time and this will be second time in the history that Tarbela will be not be filled as earlier in 2004 it could not be filled. 

This time it could have been filled but Wapda failed to do so despite repeated requests by Irsa to fill the dam by 1-4 feet per day. The situation would lead to water shortage during the Rabi season beginning Oct 31, the Irsa official feared. 

“So far, 10 million acre feet water has gone below Kotri to sea because of Wapda’s failure to fill the dam,” Irsa official claimed.

Earlier, Irsa on August 22 slashed down water shares of Sindh by 27 per cent and Punjab by 14pc because of ‘inability’ of Wapda to conserve water for irrigation purposes despite availability of sufficient water.

After the August 22 meeting, the statement issued by Irsa chairman Rao Irshad Ali Khan had clearly displayed serious concern over Tarbela filling situation holding Wapda responsible for not taking timely action on its request.

An Irsa official said the water regulator had requested Wapda through a letter on July 28 to take advantage of substantial river flows and conserve higher quantities of water. 

Irsa had pointed out that monsoon rains were bumpy and unpredictable and, therefore, storage should be built until Aug 20 at a higher scale instead of one foot every day.

The Wapda spokesman said the authority had followed standard operating procedures (SOPs) on dam safety while filling the dam and told Irsa through a letter that it could not compromise on dam safety SOPs keeping in view the construction work of Tarbela-IV project.

But the Irsa official claimed that dam safety SOPs required filling of water level by 1-4 feet per day after the Tarbela dam’s storage level of 1,510 feet. He said Wapda had not responded to Irsa’s request for almost a week during which substantial water quantities had to be allowed to flow downstream. As a consequence, the dam could not be filled to capacity despite availability of water.

He said the Irsa chairman had complained to Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif during a meeting held last week that the Wapda was not following their filling requests. 

“Irsa has already taken up the issue at an appropriate forum regarding filling of Tarbela dam,” the Irsa statement said.

The situation would lead to water shortage during the Rabi season beginning Oct 31, an official said.

In view of the situation, Irsa decided to reduce the provincial water share and directed Punjab to take water from the Mangla dam for Trimmu and Panjand canals, instead of Tarbela dam.  The Chashma-Jhelum link canal has already been closed while Taunsa-Punjnad canal will be closed in three days as per time lag.

Irsa also decided that Punjab and Sindh would get their fixed shares under para-2 of the Water Apportionment Accord of 1991, with 20pc conveyance losses.

Sindh wanted treatment of the conveyance losses at 40pc to allow higher water quantities to reach the province. 

This was not acceptable to Punjab. As a consequence, a decision was taken by 3-2 majority in the meeting held on August 22 to reduce provincial shares and start distribution of water on the basis of fixed shares.

Balochistan sided with Sindh while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the centre were with Punjab.

Sindh’s demand for 180,000 cusecs was scaled down to 131,000 with 20pc losses and para-2 share, while that of Punjab to 120,000 cusecs from 140,000. To ensure the quota, releases from the Tarbela dam were reduced to 145,000 from 150,000 cusecs and those from the Mangla dam increased to 45,000 from 30,000 cusecs.