The Punjab government has pleaded with the Indus River System Authority to reduce water discharges from the Mangla dam on the river Jhelum as running water in the mighty Indus has sufficiently increased to the level of 1,27,000 cusecs to meet the needs of irrigation water demands of the provinces.

Punjab Irrigation department sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that the provincial government has requested the water regulatory body to cut down the water outflow from the Mangla dam from 40,000 cusecs to 25,000 cusecs for filling the depleted dam which is much behind the schedule time.

They said the up-graded Mangla dam is now the biggest water reservoir of the country with the storage capacity of 7.4 MAF water. The water conservation capacity of the Tarbela dam has come down to 6 MAF only from earlier 9 MAF. They said the Mangla dam is still to be filled by 107 ft therefore maximum water flows in the rivers Indus, Kabul and Chanab should be used for the on-going sowing of Kharif crops including cotton, rice, sugarcane, maize, vegetables, and fodder for livestock and fruit orchards across the country.

According to 16th May report of WAPDA about the position of the river inflows and outflows at Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma along with the reservoirs levels and the barrages , IRSA has increased water flow in the river Indus downstream the Tarbela dam from 55,000 cusecs to 85,200 to fulfill irrigation and drinking water needs of the provinces. The latest position of running water in the four live rivers at different points is as under:

Rivers:

Indus at Tarbela: Inflows127100 cusecs and Outflows 85200 cusecs; Kabul at Nowshera: Inflows 47700 cusecs and Outflows 47700 cusecs; Jhelum at Mangla: Inflows 66400 cusecs and Outflows 40000 cusecs; Chenab at Marala: Inflows 50000 cusecs and Outflows 23800 cusecs.

Barrages:

Jinnah: Inflows 108100 cusecs and Outflows101100 cusecs; Chashma: Inflows 107000 cusecs and Outflows 119000 cusecs; Taunsa: Inflows 84600 cusecs and Outflows 73600 cusecs; Panjnad: Inflows 24700 cusecs and Outflows 14900 cusecs; Guddu: Inflows 67500 cusecs and Outflows 61400 cusecs; Sukkur: Inflows 50000 cusecs and Outflows13000 cusecs; Kotri: Inflows 16600 cusecs and Outflows Nil.

Reservoirs (Level and Storage):

Tarbela: Minimum operating level 1380 feet, present level 1416.70 maximum conservation level 1550 feet, live storage today 0.603 million acre feet (MAF).

Mangla: Minimum operating level 1040 feet, present level 1135.25 feet, maximum conservation level 1242 feet, live storage today 1.476 MAF.

Chashma: Minimum operating level 637 feet, present level 644.10 feet, maximum conservation level 649 feet, live storage today 0.118 MAF.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017