ISLAMABAD The Indus River Authority (IRSA) has warned that the country may experience a thirty percent water shortage during the Kharif season as a result of the Water and Power Development Authority’s (Wapda) inability to remove the constraints on the Tarbela and Mangla Dams. This puts numerous cash crops at risk, The News reported on Wednesday.
The IRSA Advisory Committee (IAC) predicts that the early Kharif season’s 30% water scarcity will eventually drop to 7%. However, if Wapda doesn’t solve the output restrictions of Tarbela Dam, the situation can worsen in the early Kharif season and negatively impact rice and cotton seedlings in Sindh.
The development follows the IAC meeting, which was chaired by IRSA Chairman Abdul Hameed Mengal and attended by the organization’s five members, the secretaries of the irrigation departments of the four provinces, and other officials. The purpose of the meeting was to approve the Water Availability Criteria for Kharif 2024, which was scheduled to take place in Islamabad from April to September 2024.
An official from the state Irrigation Department told the publication that “there will be no water available for below Kotri water releases which are essential to stop the sea intrusion into Sindh’s agricultural land during early Kharif from April 1 to June 10.”
