Daily Times

The mega water reservoir of Tarbela has been filled to its maximum level of 1550 feet above mean sea level, resulting in 5.827 million acre feet (MAF) of water in the Dam, which is a good omen for agriculture and hydel power generation in Pakistan in the days to come.

Tarbela Dam is considered to be an iconic project for the contribution it has been making towards development of Pakistan since 1974 by releasing the stored water for agriculture, mitigating floods and providing low-cost hydel electricity to the National Grid. Tarbela Reservoir has a live water storage capacity of 5.826 MAF. Bedsides, Tarbela is the biggest electricity generation facility in Pakistan with installed capacity of 4888 megawatt (MW), which will further increase to 6418 MW after completion of Tarbela 5th Extension Hydropower Project.

As per the hydrological data, the river inflows, outflows and the reservoir level at Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma along with the water situation at the barrages today is as under:

Kabul at Nowshera: Inflows 69400 cusecs and Outflows 69400 cusecs, Jhelum at Mangla: Inflows 26700 cusecs and Outflows 10000 cusecs, Chenab at Marala: Inflows 76100 cusecs and Outflows 54300 cusecs.

Barrages: Jinnah: Inflows 276000 cusecs and Outflows 271500 cusecs, Chashma: Inflows: 386000 cusecs and Outflows 386000 cusecs, Taunsa: Inflows 437700 cusecs and Outflows 437700 cusecs, Guddu: Inflows 361800 cusecs and Outflows 361800 cusecs Sukkur: Inflows 351100 cusecs and Outflows 351100 cusecs Kotri: Inflows 219300 cusecs and Outflows 219300 cusecs Trimmu: Inflows 120600 cusecs and Outflow 112900 cusecs Panjnad: Inflows 95900 cusecs and Outflows 90400 cusecs.

Reservoirs (Level and Storage): Tarbela: Minimum operating level 1398 feet, present level 1550.00 feet, maximum conservation level 1550 feet, live storage today 5.827 million acre feet (MAF).

Mangla: Minimum operating level 1050 feet, present level 1175.40 feet, maximum conservation level 1242 feet, live storage today 2.938 MAF.

Chashma: Minimum operating level 638.15 feet, present level 642.00 feet, maximum conservation level 649 feet, live storage today 0.038 MAF.

The inflows and outflows of River Indus at Tarbela, Jinnah and Chashma, River Kabul at Nowshera and River Jhelum at Mangla have been reflected as mean flows of 24 hours, whereas the other flows have been gauged at 6.00 a.m.