Sindh faces 32 percent water shortage in Oct-Mar

ISLAMABAD: The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) said on Monday Punjab faced 31 percent water shortage, Sindh 32 percent, Balochistan 7 percent and Khyber Pakhtunkwa 21 percent during the period October 1, 2017 to March 10, 2018.

As per IRSA account report, Punjab utilised 11.9 million acre feet (MAF) water against 17.3 MAF share, Sindh utilised 9.13 MAF against 13.4 MAF, Balochistan 1.05 MAF against 1.12 MAF and KPK 0.46 MAF against 0.56 MAF.

"As per new sharing, Taunsa-Panjad (TP) Link canal would be closed from Tuesday," IRSA said. Meanwhile, IRSA released 34,200 cusecs water from various rim stations with inflow of 33,600 cusecs.

According to the data released by IRSA, water level in the Indus River at Tarbela Dam was1386.00 feet, which was 06.00 feet higher than its dead level of 1,380 feet. Water inflow in the dam was recorded as 14,800 cusecs and outflow as 14,200 cusecs.

The water level in the Jhelum River at Mangla Dam was 1050.00 feet, which was 10.00 feet higher than its dead level of 1,040 feet whereas the inflow and outflow of

water was recorded as 8,600 cusecs and 9,800 cusecs respectively.

The release of water at Kalabagh, Taunsa and Sukkur was recorded as 21,900, 18,600 and 4,600 cusecs respectively. Similarly from the Kabul River, 4,300 cusecs of water was released at Nowshera and 2,000 cusecs from the Chenab River at Marala.