Special
Reports/Water Crisis |
THE WATER ACCORD -
1991
KEY NOTE
In 1991, an
agreement to share waters of the Indus River was reached between the four
provinces of Pakistan in the form of the Water Apportionment Accord (WAA). This
accord is based on both, the existing and future water needs of the four
provinces.
The Chief
Ministers of the four provinces, in a unique demonstration of mutual cooperation
and national spirit, resolved the long outstanding dispute, which had brought
water development in the country to a grinding halt.
HISTORIC
DEVELOPMENTS
Even during the
pre-partition era, there were episodes of contention among various provinces of
the sub-continent over water. As early as 1920, during the period when Sutlej
valley and Sukkur barrage projects were under consideration, some doubts were
expressed about the availability of water for these projects. Moreover,
Bhawalpur State also protested against the allocation of waters to non-riparian
areas. The then Government of India persuaded the Punjab, Bhawalpur and Bikanir
states to sign an agreement called the Sutlej Valley Tripartite Agreement of
1920.
During the
operation of the Sutlej valley projects, it was noted that river supplies were
short of assumed supplies particularly in the early kharif period. To
investigate this, a Sutlej Valley Project Inquiry Committee was setup in 1932.
Later, the Anderson Committee was set up in 1935 to examine the distribution of
water for Sutlej valley projects, Sukkur barrage and other projects proposed by
Punjab.
In 1939, the
Government of Sindh lodged a complaint against the Government of Punjab about
the perceived effects of the Punjab projects on inundation canals of Sindh and
on Sukkur barrage. The Rau Commission was constituted which presented its
recommendations in 1942.
The
post-independence period has also witnessed similar events. In 1968, under the
chairmanship of Mr Akhtar Hussain, the Water Allocation and Rates Committee was
constituted by the Governor of former West Pakistan to review barrage water
allocations, reservoir release patterns, drawdown levels and use of groundwater
in relation to surface water deliveries. The Committee submitted its report on
July 01, 1970 when the provinces were revived. No attention was paid to this
report.
As a result, the
Justice Fazle Akbar Committee was constituted in October 1970 to recommend
apportionment of waters of the River Indus and its tributaries. The Committee
submitted its report in 1971. During the same time period, ad hoc distribution
of Chashma barrage and later Tarbela reservoir storage among the provinces was
ordered. No decision was taken on the Fazle Akbar Committee recommendations and
water continued to be distributed on ad hoc orders by the Government of
Pakistan.
In 1977, the
Government of Pakistan established another commission comprising the Chief
Justices of the High Courts of the Provinces, headed by the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court to examine the issue of water apportionment. The report of this
commission is still pending with the Government of Pakistan.
It was finally
the Chief Ministers of the provinces who managed to reach consensus on the
contentious issue. The breakthrough came in a series of meeting, first in Lahore
and finally on March 16 in Karachi.
THE PURPOSE OF
THE WATER ACCORD
Surface water
developments after the final commissioning of the Tarbela Dam Project in 1977,
were almost stalled due to the non-resolution of the inter-provincial water
dispute. The country underwent a one and a half decade long crisis related to
irrigation supplies and hydropower generation before reaching consensus.
Load-shedding and irregular agriculture produce was observed during this period.
An inter-provincial agreement became essential to solve the longstanding dispute
of canal water uses, shares in the river supplies and surplus flows in the form
of floods, etc.
An agreement
called the "Apportionment of the Water of the Indus River System between
Provinces" was arrived upon, which had two important features:
i. It protected
the existing uses of canal water in each province.
ii. It apportions the balance of river supplies, including flood surpluses and
future storages among the provinces.
THE WATER
APPORTIONMENT ACCORD - 1991
The Water
Apportionment Accord was agreed upon on March 16, 1991 at Karachi in a meeting
of the Chief Minister's of the four provinces along with several provincial
representatives. The accord allocates the following share to provinces:
Province |
Kharif (MAF) |
Rabi (MAF) |
Total (MAF) |
Punjab
|
37.07 |
18.87 |
55.94 |
Sindh * |
33.94 |
14.82 |
48.76 |
NWFP (a) |
3.48 |
2.3 |
5.78 |
(b) Civil Canals ** |
1.80 |
1.2 |
3.00 |
Balochistan |
2.85 |
1.02 |
3.87 |
Total |
77.34 |
37.01 |
114.35 |
** |
1.8 |
1.2 |
3 |
* Including
already sanctioned Urban and Industrial uses for Metropolitan Karachi. |
** Ungauged
Civil Canals above the rim stations |
- The NWFP/
Balochistan projects, under execution, were provided their authorized quota of
water as existing uses.
- Balance river
supplies (including flood supplies and future storages) was to be distributed
as below:
Punjab |
Sindh |
Balochistan |
NWFP |
Total |
37 |
37 |
12 |
14 |
100 % |
- Industrial and
Urban Water supplies for Metropolitan City, for which there were sanctioned
allocations, was to be accorded priority.
- The need for
storages, wherever feasible on the Indus and other rivers was admitted and
recognized by the participants for planned future agricultural development.
- The need for
certain minimum escapage to sea, below Kotri, to check sea intrusion was
recognized. Sindh held the view, that the optimum level was 10 MAF, which was
discussed at length, while other studies indicated lower/high figures. It was,
therefore, decided that further studies would be undertaken to establish the
minimal escapage needs downstream Kotri.
- There would be
no restrictions on the provinces to undertake new projects within their agreed
shares.
- No
restrictions were placed on small schemes not exceeding 5,000 acres above
elevation of 1200 ft. SPD.
- No
restrictions were placed on developing irrigation uses in the Kurram / Gomal /
Kohat basins, so long as these do not adversely affect the existing uses on
these rivers.
- There were no
restrictions on Balochistan, to develop the water resources of the Indus right
bank tributaries, flowing through its areas.
- The
requirements of LBOD would be met out of the flood supplies in accordance with
the agreed sharing formula.
- For the
implementation of this accord, the need to establish an Indus River System
Authority was recognized and accepted. It was to have headquarters at Lahore
and representation from all the four province.
(i) The
system-wise allocation would be worked out separately, on ten daily basis and
attached with the agreement as part and parcel of it.
(ii) The record
of actual average system uses for the period 1977-82, would form the guide line
for developing a future regulation pattern. These ten daily uses would be
adjusted pro-rata to correspond to the indicated seasonal allocations of the
different canal systems and would form the basis for sharing shortages and
surpluses on all Pakistan basis.
(iii) The
existing reservoirs would be operated with priority for the irrigation uses of
the Provinces
(iv) The
provinces would have the freedom within their allocations to modify system-wise
and period-wise uses.
(v) All efforts
would be made to avoid wastages. Any surpluses may be used by another province,
but this would not establish any rights to such uses.
DISCUSSION ON
THE ACCORD
The Water
Apportionment Accord allocated about 12 MAF of additional water to the four
provinces for priority irrigation development. It also specified sharing
percentages for the provinces out of balance river supplies for further
development. Hence, the Water Apportionment Accord envisaged long-term surface
water development in Pakistan, which should lead to ultimate canal head
diversions of about 131 MAF.
Surplus river
water is available only between 70-100 days during the flood season
(June-September). Water Apportionment Accord has also specified 10 daily
allocations of various provincial projects throughout the year, which take into
account the additional allocations. To provide these additional allocations
during the non-flood period of the year, it is necessary to store the surplus
water.
In the absence of
new storage facilities, the provinces will be forced to share the shortages and
in this scenario, the largest suffering will be transferred on to the new
irrigation projects. Hence it is in the interest of all provinces to encourage
the development of water resources projects in order to increase national
storage capacity.
CURRENT
CONDITION OF RIVER WATERS
Pakistan has been
facing drought conditions for the past 3 years. Moreover, seasonal and
hydrologic variations, escapages to sea and canal water diversions create a huge
imbalance in water availability.
The following
tables have been generated for both kharif and rabi seasons using statistics at
the first rim station on the Indus system - the Tarbela Rim Station. Averages of
post-Tarbela period i.e. 1975-2000 have been calculated for the three western
rivers.
A similar
exercise has been undertaken for the three eastern rivers for the period
1990-2000. Average escapages below Kotri are also averaged for the period of
1975-2000 for both kharif and rabi. Finally, the canal water diversions are
calculated for averages between the years 1975-2000 for both kharif and rabi.
It may be noted
that the Water Accord allocates a total of 114.35 for the four provinces for
canal water diversions whereas the averages are far below the amount of water
allocated for development and implementation of irrigation projects. These facts
clearly indicate the urgent need for development of water storage projects.
|
Rim Station
Inflow of Indus River and its Western Tributaries |
1975-2000 |
Kharif |
Rabi |
Annual |
Average MAF
|
118.99 |
25.92 |
144.91 |
|
Eastern
Rivers Inflow at Rim Stations
|
1990-2000 |
Kharif |
Rabi |
Annual Total |
Average MAF |
7.446 |
1.69 |
9.136 |
|
Outflow
to Sea below Kotri
|
1975-2000 |
Kharif |
Rabi |
Annual |
Average MAF |
37.01 |
2.49 |
39.5 |
|
Canal
Water Diversions
|
1975-2000 |
Kharif |
Rabi |
Annual |
Average MAF |
67.11 |
37.63 |
104.73 |
REFERENCES
1. Dr. Bashir A
Chandio and Ms Nuzhat Yasmin, "Proceedings of the National Workshop on Water
Resources Achievements and Issues in 20th Century and Challenges for the Next
Millennium", Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, June 1999.
2. Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Engineering, Lahore, "Proceedings -
Water for the 21st Century: Demand, Supply, Development and Socio- Environmental
Issues", June 1997.
3. Asian Development Bank - TA, Water Resources Sector Strategy, "National Water
Sector Profile", April 2002
4. Dr. Nazir Ahmad, "Water Resources of Pakistan", Miraj uddin Press, Lahore
September 1993
Courtesy :
The Dawn
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