Islamabad: Compounding fears of a worsening water shortage, Indus River System Authority (IRSA) on Thursday warned of higher water scarcity during the current Rabi season.
Irsa directed provinces to prepare contingency plans for sowing of wheat and to ensure no losses occur to the crop ahead, reported a local newspaper.
A letter sent to the four provinces warned of 30pc water shortage instead of the 20pc predicted on September 29th due to lesser than hoped river flows during first ten days of October.
Direct of Operations Khalid Idrees Rana said to provincial governments “It is requested that contingent plants may be prepared based on 25-30 per cent shortages in the Indus Basin System to cope with the situation in case of the any eventuality.”
Irsa further warned that due to unusual weather patterns and conditions, the river flows were not showing a promising trend and there were chances of even more water scarcity going forward into Rabi season.
Rana was off the view that due to unpredictable weather patterns and climate change, forecasting water availability was very difficult. He added that not only Irsa but Pakistan Meteorological Department was struggling due to changes in forecasts.
PMD is said to have withdrawn its forecast for the month of October and no rains are expected for the month of October. It said higher than usual temperatures had been witnessed across all provinces and rivers flows were 10-15pc lower than what they normally are.
Dams water storage was said to be around two million acres feet which is lower in comparison to last year. This was attributed to water discharges from reservoirs to provinces as per their requirement, because of no shortage being expected in September.
Irsa said it would monitor the situation closely till 31st October and will continue releasing water as per agreed formula with provinces. Another meeting of Irsa will be called during early part of November, where contingency plans of provinces will also come under the scanner.
Punjab was warned by Irsa it could end up exhausting its water share in Indus zone considering its present withdrawal patterns by November.
Irsa advised Punjab to set its wheat sowing plan in accordance with higher than expected water shortages this Rabi season.
