Pakistan's Sindh faces crisis, acute water shortage for drinking, irrigation

Amid water shortage in the Sindh area, Pakistan authorities in have started to reduce the flow of canals in the province leading to an acute shortage of water for drinking as well as for irrigation.

All the three barrages of Sindh province have been facing severe shortage due to reduced upstream flows, forcing irrigation authorities to resort to a rotation programme to apportion limited water among all recipients in measured quantity, reported The Dawn.

Pakistan's Balochistan province is also recording a shortage in water flows which forced irrigation authorities to start a rotation programme for Sukkur Barrage's four left bank canals so that water can be provided to the right bank canals.

The barrage authorities have started reducing flows of two main canals of Rohri and Nara. According to estimates, presently, Guddu and Sukkur barrages are facing 19 per cent and 14 per cent shortage.

According to ten-daily water allocations under the Water Apportionment Accord 1991, at Guddu Barrage, Balochistan is having 9 per cent shortage and at Sukkur 35 per cent.As per The Dawn, from the past few days, Kotri Barrage witnessed a few thousand' flows downstream out of the reduced flows. The barrage had 9,000 cusecs on August 18, which dropped to 397 cusecs on August 25.

The irrigation department's data showed that the Kotri Barrage received a maximum discharge of 250,345 cusecs on August 7 only for 48 hours.

The shortage comes amid the flood season (August) in the river system.

Following the crisis, Dawn reported that the Sindh government urged the Indus River System Authority on Saturday "not to transfer water from Indus river to Jhelum-Chenab system through Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Panjnad link canals" as another shortage has already hit Sindh's farmlands.

The canals' operation had always been an issue in Sindh as well as this year too this became a controversy in the first week of May, the canals were allowed to draw water without meeting indented supplies of Sindh's barrages during Kharif season. Since then, the situation has remained unchanged.

( With inputs from ANI )