ISLAMABAD: Anticipating a water crisis in the wake of extreme weather conditions, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has asked the government to freeze the country’s entire development programme for five years and divert funds for construction of major water reservoirs on war footing as a national priority.

The water regulator, comprising irrigation and engineering experts from all the four provinces and the centre set up following the 1991 water apportionment accord, did not specifically name the major water reservoirs but pointed out that at the very minimum 22 million acre feet (MAF) storage capacity should be developed at the earliest.

“To put an end to the misery faced by the country, the PSDP for all sectors be frozen for at least five years and funds may be diverted for the construction of mega storages on priority basis in the best interest of public,” Irsa chairman Raqib Khan wrote to the secretary of water and power.

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The letter was issued after a meeting of the Authority, attended by the five members.

In reply to a question whether the government was considering freezing PSDP projects for diversion of funds for water reservoirs and hydropower projects, Secretary of Water and Power Younas Dagha declined to comment on Irsa’s communication, saying he had not yet seen the letter.

Irsa’s Feb 25 letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn, said the regulator pointed out fears expressed by Minister for Water and Power Khwaja Asif last month about looming water shortages which may force the people to forget current energy shortages.

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Irsa also pointed out that more than 30 MAF of water was going down to the sea, against 8-10 MAF required downstream Kotri for environmental reasons and hinted that endless discussions for ‘consensus’ projects was in fact a ploy to hide non-seriousness.

“It may be pertinent to mention here that the para 6 of Water Apportionment Accord 1991 signed by the provinces on March 16,

in the rare show of consensus and after-wards ratified by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on March 21, 1991, clearly envisages need of new storages,” it said.

The need for water reservoirs, wherever feasible on the Indus and other rivers, was admitted and recognised by the participants for planned future agricultural development, the para-6 stated.

Irsa said that the “main features of the accord were to open an era of expansion of water resources as out of 14 paras, six were about development but, unfortunately, due to indifferent approach towards the precious resource, the availability of water at canal heads has reduced to 97 MAF (which was 105 MAF in 1991) against allocations of 117 MAF”, the regulator said.

The gap will further widen and aggravate drastically, as the existing reservoirs’ capacities are diminishing with passage of time due to sedimentation and other factors, it pointed out.

Irsa said that an average of 30 MAF of fresh water was currently being released downstream Kotri Barrage to sea whereas the basic requirement was 8.6 MAF.

“Thus almost 22 MAF fresh water is released below Kotri to the sea unutilised,” it said.

It pointed out that the “total water availability of the country is 145 MAF (average) while the existing live storage capacity is only 14.10 MAF i.e. 9.7 per cent. By comparison the world average is 40 per cent, which requires achievement expeditiously”.

“Keeping this in view, Irsa strongly recommends construction of new water storages of at least 22 MAF capacity on all feasible sites on war footing as agriculture is the backbone of the country,” it said.

The new storages will help improve the diminishing per capita water availability, increase the GDP and control flood. They will also ensure availability of cheap environment-friendly hydroelectric power to overcome the power crisis.

Local and international water experts, including the World Bank and Earth Policy Institute, have been warning Pakistan about major water crisis -- flood and drought -- in the next 10-40 years owing to unusually fast depletion of the Himalayan glaciers, low storage capacity and other related uncertainties.

Some reports indicated that Himalayan glaciers, contributing over 80 per cent water to the Indus river that fed more than 65 per cent of the country’s agriculture, were receding at a rate of 30 metres to 50 metres annually. The Himalayas contain the world’s third largest ice mass after Antarctica and Greenland.

Published in Dawn March 7th , 2015

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