ISLAMABAD: The Indus Water River System Authority (IRSA) on Tuesday approved an overall system shortage of 8 percent, the lowest in the last 10 years of system operation and significantly less than the post-IRSA shortage of 18 percent.
These estimates were approved at a meeting of the IRSA Advisory Committee (IAC) held here under the chairmanship of Sahibzada Muhammad Shabir, Chairman IRSA. The meeting was convened to approve the anticipated water availability criteria for Rabi from October 2025 to March 2026.
The meeting was attended, inert alia, by IRSA Members, Chief Engineering Advisor (CEA), MoWR; Members of WAPDA’s Water & Power Wings; Secretaries Provincial Irrigation Departments (PIDs) of Punjab and Sindh, and other Senior Officers from PIDs & WAPDA.
IAC approves water availability for April only
The IAC reviewed Kharif 2025 season and noted with satisfaction that the actual inflows of 122.364 Million Acre Feet (MAF) were higher than the anticipations by 18 percent, the 10-year average by 19 percent and last year’s inflows by 14 percent.
The provinces utilised 62.394 MAF against IAC allocations, provincial indents, and IRSA releases of 68.505 MAF, 78.427 MAF, and 99.292 MAF, respectively.
The less utilisation by the provinces was due to a very wet Kharif season with widespread monsoon rainfalls and floods in the western and especially in the eastern rivers. As a result, the IRSA effectively managed to get almost all the reservoirs filled to maximum capacity. Hence, the total storage on September 30, 2025 was 13.214 MAF; i.e., 99 percent of maximum storage capacity.
The IAC also finalised anticipated water availability for Rabi 2025-26. The anticipated Rim-Station inflows of 22.016 MAF were unanimously approved by the IAC. After a detailed discussion, the IAC approved the overall system shortage of 8 percent, ranked lowest in the last 10 years of system operation, and significantly less than the post-IRSA shortage of 18 percent.
The anticipated provincial withdrawals were allocated as 33.814 MAF, which were considerably more than the 10-year average and last year’s figures of 28.870 MAF and 29.427 MAF, respectively.
Province-wise details are as follows: (i) Punjab – last ten years average of actual utilisation 15.367 MAF, last year utilisation, 15.561 MAF, proposed allocation 18.207 MAF for 2025-26; (ii) Sindh- last ten years average of actual utilisation, 11.935 MAF, last year utilisation 12.154 MAF, proposed allocation for Rabi 2025-26, 13.734 MAF; (iii) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa- 0.528 MAF, 0.668 and 0.791 MAF; and (iv) Balochistan 1.040 MAF, 1.044 MAF and 1.171 MAF, respectively.
This implies that the total last ten–year average of actual utilization was Rs 28.870 MAF, whereas last year’s utilisation was 29.427 MAF. The proposed allocation for Rabi 2025-26 is 33.814 MAF.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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