Water Resources Minister Syed Javed Ali Shah on Monday informed the National Assembly that the country was facing a water shortage due to “hydro-meteorological conditions” which had resulted in below-average flow of water in rivers.
The current water inflow in four major rivers of the country had been recorded to be 48,300 cusecs, compared to the average water inflow in these rivers of around 57,900 cusecs at this time of the year, the minister informed lawmakers.
According to a written reply submitted by the minister, the prevailing water crisis in the country had first surfaced in September 2017. He said that the situation was expected to remain the same until the end of this year.
To reduce the adverse impacts of the shortage, the minister said, the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) was managing the distribution of the full share of water to provinces by supplementing river flows with water stored in the Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs.
According to available documents, Irsa had previously anticipated a 20 per cent shortfall for the Rabi season of 2017-18. However, experts said that figure was now likely to be higher. The water resources minister suggested that the issue of water shortage could be addressed by constructing new reservoirs.
On Sept 28, IRSA estimated about 20 per cent water shortage for the Rabi season and flagged falling storage capacity as a serious concern, and asked the provincial leaders to start building dams on war-footing.
The Rabi season begins in October-December and ends in April-May. Wheat is the largest crop in the Rabi season, while other crops included gram, lentil, tobacco, rapeseed, barley and mustard.
