Pakistan faces 22% water shortage in upcoming Rabi season

Mettis Link News reported that the country is projected to face a 22% water deficit during the coming Rabi season, with Punjab and Sindh expected to carry the entire effect of the shortfall. The Advisory Committee of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) signed off on the estimate at a session called to examine expected water availability and decide how water is split among provinces for Rabi crops.

Rabi water availability is forecast at 29.183 million acre-feet (MAF), compared with 21.268 MAF of river inflows. Under the approved split, Punjab would receive 15.564 MAF and Sindh 11.748 MAF, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gets 701,000 acre-feet and Balochistan 1.171 MAF. The forecast follows a weaker Kharif period in which inflows reached 95.444 MAF, a 22% drop on the prior year and 7% under the 10-year mean.

IRSA reported reservoir storage of 9.343 MAF on September 30. A 21-day Chashma Barrage shutdown, between December 26 and January 14, also received approval as part of the yearly provincial canal schedule. IRSA has told the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to hasten work on the Tarbela 4th and 5th Extension projects, as delays on them contributed to Kharif shortages. Punjab and Sindh, the main farming areas named in the report, could feel the heaviest pressure as wheat and other Rabi crops follow the Kharif harvest.