LAHORE, June 18: About 58 per cent of the water flowing between Sukkur and Kotri barrages during the early Kharif — from April 1 to June 10 simply disappears every year, the Punjab has alleged in a letter to the Indus River System Authority.

The Authority, it says, should either investigate the losses itself or assign the job to a ‘neutral’ body like the Water and Power Development Authority or the army monitoring teams. Surprise inspections by other provinces, it says, generate unnecessary ill-will and politicize a purely technical matter.

The letter also contains a study of water releases and reported losses last year. Justifying the selection of the early Kharif period, the letter points out that the time is marked by acute shortages — the country began with a 70 per cent shortage this year — and heightened conflicts among provinces. It says the losses during the period hurt the most and care should be taken to control them.

Stating the context of the study, the letter says the Tarbela lake has lost substantial live capacity due to siltation and advancement of delta. Last year it had hit the dead level by mid-March. The river flows remained close to the lowest recorded historic levels. The canal withdrawals thus depended entirely on river flows, with no support from carry-over storage of 1-1.5 MAF from Tarbela Dam. Under the circumstances, high losses could lead to a federal schism or be exploited by vested interests. As a result of continued siltation of Tarbela lake, the situation may get worse in the future, the letter fears.

The study claims that something was wrong in the last reach — between Sukkur and Kotri — where losses were well above 50 per cent. More than half the water flowing below Sukkur barrage reportedly disappeared en route to Kotri Barrage.

The losses in the Chashma-Taunsa reach, about 152 miles, are around 13 per cent. The losses in the 188 miles Taunsa-Guddu reach are around 25 per cent, 12 per cent in the 130 miles Guddu-Sukkur reach and 58 per cent in the 298 miles Sukkur-Kotri stretch.

The letter also says the practice of provincial engineers monitoring barrages and canals in other province must be reviewed to avoid acrimony and promote good governance and confidence in the federation.

It suggests initiating actual river discharge observation at specific points to find out the reasons behind the disparity in reported losses inferred from the barrages’ discharge data. These points could be half way between Chashma and Taunsa, between Taunsa and Guddu and between Sukkur and Kotri. The sites have been proposed in view of accessibility, stability and convenience of observation.

Explaining the letter, an official of the Irrigation Department said around 14 MAF acre feet water disappeared annually in the Sukkur-Kotri range. The amount is twice the Tarbela lake storage and three times the Mangla lake’s capacity. The Irsa, it concludes, must take up the issue on priority basis. He claimed that this was not an attempt to point an accusing finger at anybody, just an effort o determine the causes of the huge loss.