IRSA asks WAPDA to appoint water inspectors at nine sites

LAHORE: The Indus River System Authority (IRSA), apex river water regulatory body having representation of all provinces, has asked the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to appoint water inspectors at nine barrages in Punjab and Sindh for monitoring flows.

The move to appoint technical inspectors was pushed in the meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on Water Resources, which was held on May 24, 2021 under the chairmanship of Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, Pakistan Peoples’ Party MNA from NA-220 (Umerkot).

According to a memorandum issued by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources on May 27, 2021, the 20-member standing committee showed multi-partisan consensus over third-party monitoring of water distribution among provinces.

“In pursuance of the proceedings of Standing Committee of National Assembly on Water Resources, on 24.05.2021 and ongoing water crises concerning water distribution among provinces, IRSA is advised to immediately appoint water inspectors (technical officials) at key locations of Indus Basin Irrigation System to dispel the impression of misreporting, within a week’s time limit.”

In the backdrop of the memorandum communicated by the Ministry of Water Resources, Rao Irshad Ali Khan, Chairman, IRSA, wrote a letter to WAPDA chairman, on May 31, 2021 titled water shortage issue concerning water distribution.

“Pursuant to the Ministry of Water Resources letter, it is requested to appoint Water Inspectors (Technical Officials) to monitor the discharges at the following key locations immediately,” IRSA chairman stated.

He said technical inspectors should be appointed at Taunsa Headworks, Rasul Headworks, Marala Headworks, Trimmu Headworks, Chashma Barrage and Panjnad Headworks in Punjab province and Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri Barrages in Sindh province. He asked the chairman of WAPDA to treat this matter as most urgent, while requesting to facilitate IRSA with requisite human resources as per rules and regulations in vogue.

On the back of an unprecedented downturn in river flows, exacerbated by slow snow-melting due to low temperatures in catchment areas, both Sindh and Punjab provinces have been hit hard by the scarcity of water during peak summer demand. As shortage of water grows, pointing fingers comes into play from Sindh and Punjab, holding each other responsible for the water woes.

According to observers, there was no real substance in the allegations levelled by both Sindh and Punjab on each other for water theft of similar stuff. Instead, they believe, the abysmally low flows of river water have been the real culprit as far as paucity of water is concerned.

This assertion has been backed by recent inspection of water distribution being done in Punjab by a team of the Sindh Department last week, which were reported by this subscribe earlier. Later, a high-profile team of IRSA also made surprise inspections of Punjab barrages where measurement of flows had been as per reported gauges.

On May 29, 2021, in an early morning inspection on the Panjnad Barrage in the Bahawalpur District, Southern Punjab, officials from the Sindh Irrigation Department found correct measuring of water flows downstream as per reported gauges.

A team from the Sindh Irrigation Department headed by Nazeer Ahmad, XEN Design, Guddu Barrage, made a surprise visit on last Saturday to the Panjnad Barrage to ascertain the quantum of flows as per discharge data.

As per joint recording of water flow measurement by both the visiting team and the local staff, Sindh officials found discharge flows in complete accordance with the data reported by the Punjab Irrigation Department to IRSA.

Following a raid by Sindh officials on the Panjnad Barrage to check outflows, a team of the IRSA also paid a surprise visit to the water infrastructure in the province and verified accuracy of discharges. On May 29 and 30, the visiting team of IRSA physically inspected Chashma and Jinnah Barrages located on the Indus River to ascertain authenticity of discharges as per the reported data. The team comprising member IRSA Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, member IRSA Balochistan and Director Operations IRSA visited the Chashma Jhelum Link Canal and verified the accuracy of the data reported by Punjab.

Later, they visited the Greater Thal Canal and verified the accuracy of the data reported by Punjab. The Greater Thal Canal found to be running with 991 cusecs against the 1,000 cusecs reported gauge.

Later on Sunday, member IRSA KP and member IRSA Balochistan, along with the director operations, IRSA, visited the Jinnah Barrage and Thal Canal and found the data reported by Punjab to be accurate. The Thal Canal was found to be flowing with 4,500 cusecs of water while 84,400 cusecs were being released downstream as per indent communicated through the IRSA.

Interestingly, member Sindh, IRSA, who has been vocal in finger pointing and mudslinging over water distribution among the provinces, did not join this team for carrying out inspection of water distribution arrangements in the Punjab province.