Punjab’s water refusal deepens power crisis

* Attributes refusal to closure of canals
* WAPDA forced to scale back power generation target from 12,000 MW to 8,500 MW

By Zafar Bhutta

Islamabad: The Punjab province on Thursday exacerbated the miseries of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) — which is already reeling from a power crisis that has resulted in unprecedented power outages in the country — by refusing to receive its water share of 8,000 cusecs from Mangla Dam, as approved by the Indus River System Authority (IRSA)A)’s advisory committee on January 6.

Punjab refused to take its indent of water from Mangla Dam before January 25, citing the closure of canals as the main reason for the decision. This move will result in a daily energy deficit of 3,500 MW, a senior official told Daily Times on Thursday.

The official said IRSA is currently releasing only 1,000 cusecs daily from Mangla Dam, generating only 173 MW of hydroelectric power, and 3,300 cusecs from Tarbela Dam, generating another 238 MW per day.

The amount being released from both Mangla and Tarbela Dams stands at 4,300 cusecs daily, enabling WAPDA to generate only 411 MW. This is a meagre portion of the 18,000 cusecs daily water release approved by IRSA for generating 1,200 MW.

Scaling back: The official also said that, as a result of Punjab’s refusal to accept its indent of water, power generation targets had been scaled down to 8,500 MW per day, whereas the daily demand stands at 11,500 MW.

Consequently, the country faces a shortfall of 3,000 MW during the daytime and 3,500 MW at night, he added.

He said Pakistan’s power generation capacity is 16,000 MW per day. Power generation plants, however, cannot generate electricity at optimum capacity due to insufficient availability of resources such as water, gas and oil.

Sources said Punjab’s daily water demand is 8,000 cusecs from Mangla dam, while Sindh’s demand stands at 4,000 cusecs daily from Tarbela. But, due to the closure of canals in Punjab, the province refused to take the indent advised by ISRA.

Punjab formally conveyed to IRSA on Thursday that it would not take its daily indent of 8,000 cusecs from Mangla. It would, however, take the indent after January 25 to meet Rabbi crop irrigation requirements, it said.

Punjab’s reluctance to take its indent is due to a forecasted water shortage during the Rabi season, the official said. In its recent meeting, ISRA upped the forecasted deficit from 22 percent to a 28 percent. The water level in dams, which stood at 1,167 feet during the corresponding period last year, has come down to 1,107 feet – a decrease of 50 feet, he added.

Now IRSA will start releasing 18,000 cusecs daily from Tarbela and Mangla from January 25, after canals are re-opened in Punjab, for the generation of 1,200 MW.

IRSA is responsible for regulating and distributing surface water among the provinces in accordance with the Water Apportionment Accord signed by the chief ministers of all four provinces in 1991. The authority is empowered to settle any questions that may arise between two or more provinces with respect to distribution of river and reservoir waters.