Monsoon downpour improves water level at Tarbela, Mangla

Islamabad: The last day monsoon downpour has improved water level condition in the major water reservoirs of the country as on Monday actual river flows and reservoir elevations indicated that Tarbela and Mangla reservoir levels has reached to 1,469.52 feet and 1,134.65 feet respectively.

According to daily flood situation report, the reservoirs are 80.48 feet and 107.35 feet below their respective Maximum Conservation Levels (MCLs) of 1,550 feet and 1,242 feet.

However, the combined live storage capacity of Tarbela, Chashma and Mangla reservoirs is 3.484 MAF which is 25.46 percent as compared to the existing combined live storage capacity of 13.681 million acre feet (MAF), it added.

The report reveals that all the main rivers particularly Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej continue to flow normal, except for River Kabul, which is still flowing in low flood in ‘Warsak-Nowshera Reach.’

Talking to APP, Chairman of Federal Flood Commission Engineer Ahmed Kamal said the water level situation at Tarbela is good and expected to further strengthened as it would reach to 1,540 feet within the next 18 to 20 days if the monsoon rains continue on the same pace in the coming days.

He said Tarbela dam is filled to its capacity till August 20, while Mangla dam till September 30, every year. If the dams are filled to their maximum conservation level then it will contribute to a healthy rabi crops season while in case of shortfall the deficit would have impact on the crops of the country, he added.

If Mangla dam did not mange to get maximum water to reserve other than Tarbela then the shortage might grow severe putting the burden more heavy on crops while winter rainfalls are expected to compensate the deficit in case of frequent rainfalls”, he remarked.

Commenting on Nullah Leh water level situation, Ahmed Kamal said it has been facing tumultuous water level since the last day’s rainfall while there were no reports of any urban flood to take place while adequate preventive measures are advised to be ensured at any cost.

Meanwhile, Indus River System Authority (IRSA) released 254,100 cusecs water from various rims against inflow of 449,200 cusecs. According to data released by IRSA, water level in the Indus River at Tarbela Dam was 1469.52 feet, which was 83.52 feet higher than its dead level of 1,386 feet.

Water inflow in the dam was recorded as 259,100 cusecs against outflow of 100,000 cusecs. The water level in the Jhelum River at Mangla Dam was recorded as 1,134.65 feet, which was 94.65 feet higher than its dead level of 1,040 feet and water inflow and outflow was recorded as 46,600 cusecs and 10,000 cusecs respectively.

The release of water at Kalabagh, Taunsa and Sukkur was recorded as 171,300, 177,200 and 44,900 cusecs respectively. Similarly from the Kabul River, 61,200 cusecs of water was released at Nowshera and 49,500 cusecs from the Chenab River at Marala.

The total water storage was recorded at 3.484 million acre feet. Meanwhile, the agriculture experts have also termed the recent spell of rains beneficial for the all the seasonal crops and said that it would help in healthy growth of the crops.

They said that seasonal crops like cotton, rice, sugarcane and maize was at their growing stages and recent spell of rains would bring about positive impact on their output. Besides, the heavy spell of shower would help to strengthen the water availability for irrigation of these crops particularly the rice, sugarcane and maize and boost their productivity, he added.