According to official figures, all the rivers were flowing on Monday at around 20 per cent less than last year’s levels on the day.
The Indus, which was flowing at 24,300 cusecs on March 15 last year, dipped to 21,300 cusecs, the Jhelum at Mangla flowed 20,800 cusecs against 25,300 cusecs on the same day last year and the Chenab at 9,200 cusecs against 9,700 cusecs last year.
Only the Kabul River registered some improvement at 13,800 cusecs from 12,200 cusecs last year. The Mangla Lake had hit the dead level of 1,040 feet last week, seriously affecting both agriculture and hydel generation.
With the reduced river flow, agriculture suffered a shortage of 32 per cent irrigation water during the first half of March against a projected deficit of 30 per cent.
According to an official of the Punjab irrigation department, the province suffered 42 per cent losses during the fortnight and had to transport water to the southern belt from Mangla to save the wheat crop.
He said he feared the situation would remain unchanged during the entire month.
However, he said, wheat crop in Punjab would receive adequate water over the next five days.
He said: “Now Sindh will need water for Kharif sowing which is just around the corner.” The Rabi needs of both Sindh and Punjab have almost been met but supplies for Kharif will remain under stress.
The other sector which has been hit by dams’ dead levels is that of power generation, with the duration of loadshedding in urban and rural areas increasing by at least two hours.
On Monday, the hydel power generation was reported at 3,469MW against 5,375MW on the day last year. Tarbela contributed 1,488MW, Ghazi Brotha 1,160MW, Mangla 496MW, Warsak 143MW and Chashma 128MW.
Source: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/tarbela-hits-dead-level-630
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