ISLAMABAD: Fears of an acute water shortage in the Kharif cropping season have subsided as the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) now believes that the water shortfall will be limited to April only.

At a meeting of Irsa`s advisory committee on Friday, its chairperson Syed Mazhar Ali Shah concluded that while there would be an 18 per cent water shortfall in the early Kharif weeks it would be limited to April and would be followed by an upturn.

`Overall, there would be no water shortage,` spokesperson Khalid Idrees Rana said.

The Kharif cropping season starts in April-June and lasts until October-December in various parts of the country. Rice, sugarcane, cot-ton, maize and mash are some of the key crops of the season.

Sharing details about water availability in the coming months, Mr Rana said total water availability at rim stations was estimated at 110 million acre feet (MAF) during the entire Kharif season, starting on April 1 and ending in October.

Of this, 23.63 MAF would be available in the early season and 82.2 MAP in the latter half of Kharif.

The meteorological department`s director general told the committee that there would be cloud streams in the early part of April, but overall temperatures would rise by two degrees centigrade. `Based on this forecast, Irsa believes that the snow will start melting quite early and contribute positively to the river flows.

In response to a question about Irsa`s previous estimates of 35pc water shortfall, the spokesperson said that estimate was history. It was based on the situation in the second week of March. He said the shortage in the last two weeks of March was managed by the prov-inces through prudent utilisation.

After setting aside 10.7 MAF water to flow downstream Kotri and conveyance losses, there would be 67 MAF for distribution among the provinces for irrigation. Mr Rana said earlier estimates of 35-40pc losses by the technical committee had been trimmed down to a maximum of 35pc loss in early Kharif weeks.

From the quantity of water available for distribution among the provinces, Punjab would get 33.23 MAF, Sindh 30.39 MAF, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 0.82 MAF and Balochistan 2.6 MAF .

The committee decided with consensus that the provincial indents for water releases would be met.

Mr Rana said that Balochistan had complained about a water shortage at its Kirthar and Garang stations. Sindh then agreed to postpone the closing of its canals from Sukkur and Guddu barrages to April 5 instead of April 1 to compensate Balochistan in the short term.

The advisory committee decidedthat in the long term, Sindh and Balochistan would jointly monitor discharges from Kirthar and Garang regulation stations during Kharif under the supervision of the water regulator.

The committee also allowed Punjab to reopen the canals from Trimmu and Punjnad, which it had closed in the middle of March. The province was also allowed to utilise 5000 cusecs from Chashma downstream and Taunsa.

In reply to question about the distribution formula, Mr Rana said it was decided that the releases would be made in accordance with the demands of the provinces and surplus water would be conserved for storage.

He said the committee was told that river flows had faced a dip between Tarbela and Chashma areas because Wapda authorities had been building stocks during the day for peak releases to maximise power generation.

Wapda was then directed to follow Irsa`s discharge criteria on a 24-hour basis.