ISLAMABAD, June 28 (Xinhua) — The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) of Pakistan said that the country’s south Sindh and east Punjab province will face 51 percent of water shortage in the coming days as there is only 220,000 cusec acres of water available in reserves, far less than the demand of water in the country.
Raising alarm over the prevalent acute shortage of water in the reserves, IRSA informed that the current water storage in the reserves stood at 0.220 million acres feet (MAF), local reports said on Thursday.
The authority said that the water inflow in the rivers of the country was measured at 1,12,900 cusecs, while river outflow remained at 1,19,300 cusecs, adding that a total of 1,23,600 cusecs of water was being provided to the provinces.
It was noticed that in June last year, water inflow was 3,75,100 cusecs while this year it dropped to 1,12,900 cusecs.
In addition, the storage last year was 3.6 MAF and this year it was only 0.22 MAF, thus revealing a big gap in storage capacity and inflow.
The IRSA spokesman said that the current situation of water shortage can get better only if the country receives an exceptionally good spell of rain in the forthcoming monsoon season, or an early glacial melting fill the dams to full capacity.
The spokesman said that if it did not happen, the situation could get worse and the forthcoming winter and next year summer crop may get badly affected.
Earlier, the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources issued a warning that the country may run dry by 2025.
It said that the country touched the "water stress line" in 1990 and crossed the "water scarcity line" in 2005.