ISLAMABAD   -   The country’s largest reservoir Tarbela dam has once again touched its dead level due to considerable decline at rim station inflows that will result drastic reduction in provinces share.

Tarbela dam has again touched the revised dead level of 1398 feet (earlier dead level was 1392 feet) which will further affect the water supply to Sindh and Punjab, official data reveals. As per the data, on May 16, Tarbela level was 1414.33 feet, with inflows of 984000 cusecs and outflow of 90000 cusecs, however within one week the inflows in river Indus at Tarbella have gone down to 68900 cusecs (-29.98pc), forcing the authorities to cut down the outflows by 13.33pc to 78000 cusecs. Similarly inflow in River Kabul at Nowshera has also decreased by around 4000 cusecs from 34900 to 29900 cusecs. The main reason in dip in the inflow is reduction in Skardu’s temperature which has gone down from 26.7°C on last Monday to 22.2°C this week. On Monday, the total inflows in the country’s rivers were 156800 cusecs while the total outflows were 168000 cusecs. The total storage at the country’s reservoirs of Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma was 0.221 MAF. Inflows in Jhelum at Mangla were 32000 cusecs against the outflows of 34100 cusecs, inflows at Chenab at Marala were 27200 cusecs and outflows 17200 cusecs.

Currently Tarbela is operating at the minimum operating level of 1398 feet. The maximum conservation level of Tarbela is 1550 feet, live storage 0.000 million acre feet (MAF). Mangla against the minimum operating level 1050 feet is presently at 1084.55 feet. The maximum conservation level of Mangla is 1242 feet with live storage of 0.181 MAF. Chashma against the minimum operating level of 638.15 feet is presently at 641.00 feet. The maximum conservation level of Chashma is 649 feet while the live storage is 0.040 MAF.

It is worth mentioning here that last week in a letter to Provincial Secretaries Irrigation of all the provinces Indus River System Authority (IRSA) had informed that the rim station inflows have declined substantially from 206,109 cusecs on May 15, 2022 to 162,082 cusecs which will affect the water share of the provinces. It was further informed that due to inconsistency in temperatures, the rim station inflows have substantially declined by 44,027 cusecs (-21pc) from 206,109 cusecs on May 15, 2022 to 162,082 cusecs on May 20, 2022. It is also very pertinent to mention here that the storage component available in Tarbela, Chashma and Mangla is only 0.344 MAF (Last Year 0.995 MAF; 10-Year Avg 3.195 MAF), which is not sufficient to augment the dropping river inflows at rim stations. The reduction will further spread to the provinces with respect to the time lag of about 4-5 days to Punjab and 10-12 days to Sindh.