HYDERABAD: While Indus river at Chashma and Taunsa barrages remained in medium flood on Monday, Guddu Barrage also attained low flood level in the evening. It would attain medium flood level on Wednesday (Aug 7), in according to the barrage authorities.

Guddu is the first barrage over Indus in Sindh. Indus shows a discharge of 389,279 cusecs and 407,105 cusecs at Chashma and Taunsa barrages downstream, respectively. Guddu Barrage was showing upstream / downstream flow of 219,091 cusecs at 6pm on Monday.

Guddu-Chashma upstream is the point where Sindh gets its indented water supplies under interprovincial water distribution formula from the Indus River System Authority (Irsa). Panjnad downstream flows were also increasing during the previous 48 hours simultaneously.

In Panjnad, the upstream flow of 34,077 cusecs and downstream flow of 26,507 cusecs was recorded on Monday morning.

Hill torrents from Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur pushing up water level

The Guddu Barrage chief engineer appeared satisfied with barrage’s upkeep. “We are ready to tackle flood situation,” said CE Sardar Shah, who has recently resumed his position after being suspended during the caretaker government. He said that heavy flows of hill torrents from Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur areas entered Guddu upstream. “Our barrage will attain medium flood level on Aug 7,” he added.

Canals closed

All three off-taking canals of the barrages have been closed. Only Desert Pat feeder, a right side canal of the barrage, was provided 1,000 cusecs discharge. “This flow of 1,000 cusecs is meant for Balochistan,” said the CE. Other canals are Begari feeder, Ghotki feeder and Rainee.

Sukkur and Kotri barrages are normal, for now. Sukkur Barrage had a flow of 186,338 cusecs upstream and 170,458 cusecs downstream at 6pm. Kotri Barrage had a flow of 78,955 cusecs upstream and 46,260 cusecs downstream in the evening.

Flows in canals at barrages are being reduced in view of flooding in the Indus. Rohri Canal of Sukkur Barrage had developed a breach at its RD-827 on Sunday in the Tando Adam area which could not be plugged till late Monday evening. Flow for Rohri Canal was stopped due to the breach.

Replacement of gates

The Desert Pat Feeder is source of water supply to Balochistan, like North Western Canal of Sukkur Barrage. The barrage’s 10 gates, out of the total 65, have been replaced between 2017 and 2024 under the Sindh Barrages Improvement Programme (SBIP). The remaining 55 gates are to be replaced by 2028. Besides these 10 gates, 25 gates of its off-taking canals have also been replaced. “All gates of the barrage have been opened to let the flows help clear silt deposits at the barrage. Withdrawals at all three canals have almost been zeroed in view of flooding in Indus river,” said a barrage official.

Seven gates of Sukkur Barrage had suffered damage on June 20. The gate No. 47 was washed away and the six other gates had developed visible cracks. Gate No. 47 has since been replaced but its caisson gate could not be replaced due to current velocity of water flows at the barrage

Sukkur Barrage recovers from damage

Sukkur barrage CE Mansoor Memon said that the barrage was now working smoothly. “We can’t remove the caisson gate from location No. 47 because of flows’ velocity. In flood season, gates are even otherwise lifted to let floodwaters pass downstream,” the CE said.

Flows for the left bank canals of Sukkur have been reduced considerably. Nara canal had a flow of 6,050 cusecs today against 12,450 cusecs on Aug 3. Its right bank canals were having consistent flows for rice cultivation. North Western canal had a flow of 3,200 cusecs, Rice Canal 4,400 cusecs (reduced from 9,250 cusecs on Aug 4) and Dadu Canal 2,230 cusecs.

With a storage level of 1,530ft, Tarbela is only a feet of its maximum capacity of 1,550ft. On Monday, it had an inflow of 337,500 cusecs and outflow of 309,800 cusecs. These flows are to ultimately reach Sindh.

Irsa had in August last year announced that national reservoirs, including Tarbela and Mangla dams and Chashma reservoirs, had filled to their maximum conservation levels (MCLs). It was the same day – Aug 17. Irsa had termed it ‘a historical event’ in over half a decade history.

Irsa spokesman Khalid Idris Rana told Dawn over phone on Monday that there was no forecast of any intense rainfall, and that flows would start showing a declining trend at rim stations of the country in the next 72 hours. “Currently, flows available in the system will take their normal course. Kabul [River] has already recorded a declining trend at Indus,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2024