LAHORE: Tarbela Dam is 96 feet away from touching its maximum level of 1550 feet as it has already attained level of 1494 feet on Friday against 1398 feet a day earlier, said sources from Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).
They said the Dam had registered a gain of 96 feet in last 10 days. It may be noted that the Dam was at the level of 1405 feet on 1st of July when monsoon weather had hit the country. In other words, said the sources, the Dam was possessing one percent storage of its total capacity on 1st of May which has risen to 49.34 percent on Friday. The dam has been filled by half, they added.
Mangla Dam, on the other hand, was carrying 4.57 percent storage of its capacity, which has reached 13.24 percent on Friday. So far as the water level is concerned, Mangla was at the level of 1098 feet, which has reached 1126.7 feet. The maximum conservation level of Mangla Dam is 1242 feet.
Director PMD Shahid Abbas confirmed the development, saying that Mangla has been filled by 13 percent and Tarbela by 49 percent. According to him, Tarbela could be filled to the maximum conservation level before 20th of July as there is no need of irrigation water for the agriculture of Sindh and Balochistan provinces due to heavy spells of rains.
At present, he said, 150,000 cusecs water is being released from the dam on daily basis, which is more than the agricultural need of the two provinces. The other purpose being met by this huge release of water is to generation of some 3000 plus megawatt electricity from the Dam, he added.
According to him, since the relevant authorities have no idea as how water is expected from the hilly sources, therefore, they are not in a hurry to fill it up. An early filling up of this dam may lead to heavy release of water in case of flood like situation after heavy rains in the hilly areas, he added. He said, another reason of releasing excessive water is the non-availability of storage capacity. He said the water being released at present is enough to fill another two dams of similar capacity in the country.
Meanwhile, the monsoon waves have proceeded to Sindh, particularly Karachi, to shower rain from Saturday night. Also, Director PMD said, the current monsoon waves would bring heavy downpour in Balochistan and lower parts of Southern Punjab for the next three days. The monsoon waves are likely to revert to the catchment areas of all the five rivers from 20th July until 22nd of July, including central Punjab and upper parts of the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022