Tarbela Dam reaches dead level

ISLAMABAD: Amid the ongoing Punjab-Sindh fight on withdrawal of water from the Taunsa-Punjnad (TP) canal, the country’s biggest Tarbela reservoir on Thursday reached dead level of 1400ft in the wake of a massive dip in water flows during the last three days heralding more water shortages in the country, particularly for Sindh and Punjab, putting the Kharif crops in danger.

Meanwhile, the total flows in the country’s water system alarmingly dwindled by 22.6 per cent in the last 3 days to just 1,43,900 cusecs on Thursday from 186,000 cusecs per day on May 24 with main dips in the Indus River at Tarbela by 25.82 per cent and in the Kabul River 30.85 per cent.

“We were expecting earlier the dead level but water gains at Chashma because of rains and sudden rise in water flows on May 24 in Indus up to 70,100 cusecs helped avoid the water in the Tarbela Dam to reach the dead level, ” IRSA spokesman Khalid Idrees Rana said. And the Tarbela Dam is most likely to come on run-of-the-river from today (May 28) but again it all depends upon the temperature at Skardu, Rana said. Water flows fluctuate in Indus with temperature variation at its catchment areas. And if the dip continues for a week, water shortage estimates would increase by up to 25-30 per cent. He said the IRSA has already revised upward the water shortage projections to 17 per cent till June 10.

The IRSA had earlier projected 10 per cent water shortages for early Kharif, which proved wrong mainly because of the lower temperatures at Skardu. “If the temperature at Skardu goes up to 24 degrees centigrade, the flows will increase to 80,000 cusecs per day and if the mercury moves up to 30 degrees centigrade, the water flows in the Indus River will surge up to 150,000 cusecs per day, but unfortunately temperature is fluctuating between 18 degrees centigrade to 20 degrees centigrade which is abnormal phenomena.”

Punjab and Sindh are already at war with each other on water withdrawals from the Indus River through Taunsa-Punjnad Link Canal. The Sindh government claims that the IRSA has opened this canal for Punjab despite severe opposition by members in the water regulatory from Sindh, Balochistan and KP.

However, the Punjab government is defending its decision to have an intake of water from the TP Link Canal, arguing that the province is getting water from its share and any province under the accord can withdraw water from any canal.

The situation at Mangla, Chashma and Marala is also bleak in terms of water flows. The water flows went down in the Indus River at Tarbela by 25.82 per cent from 70,100 cusecs on May 24 to 52,000 cusecs on May 27. This means the flows tumbled by 18,100 cusecs. At the moment, water outflows from the Tarbela Dam stand at 60,000 cusecs, whereas the inflows stand at 52,000 cusecs. In the Jhelum River, the inflows stand at 46,000 cusecs against the outflows of 58,000 cusecs. In the Kabul River, the water flows have also drastically declined by 30.85per cent to 26,000 cusecs from 37,600 cusecs, meaning that they have decreased by 11,000 cusecs per day.