LAHORE: Availability of water in both Mangla and Tarbela dams is far better than the last year, requiring immediate releases before snow melting at glaciers, said sources in the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).

They said water availability at Mangla is 39 percent of the storage capacity against 9 percent of the last year. At Tarbela, they said, this is 30 percent against seven percent of the last season.

It may be noted that cultivation of both cotton and rice crops is in the office in provinces and a timely utilization of water availability in dams would not only be beneficial to the agriculture sector but also be helpful in accommodating the water arrival out of snow melting at the hilltops.

Already, said the sources, some 101,000 cusecs water in River Kabul and 41,000 cusecs water is passing through Head Marala at present, which means that around 150,000 cusecs water is passing through these two locations, which should be utilized for irrigation purposes in the country. They said the storage level should bring down to 10 percent before the start of monsoon rains and the abundant water in dams should be utilized for electricity generation as well.

So far as the initial monsoon forecast is concerned, sources from the PMD expressed the hope that it would be stronger than the last year. The monsoon season would start from July until September, and it would witness a timely start like the last year, i.e., from the first week of July to benefit the paddy crop.

Meanwhile, temperatures throughout the Punjab are set to cross to 45C while those in South Punjab would cross 46C. In Sindh, they said, maximum temperature would cross 48C and the duration of the intensity of weather would prevail from 16 to 18 hours a day. Minimum temperature, on the other hand, would be over 30C and likely to touch 35C during the night.

So far as moisture level is concerned, it is around 20 percent and likely to reduce to 10 percent ahead.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024