Saving freshwater via re-lining

The re-lining of Akram Wah, a left bank perennial canal of Kotri Barrage, turned out to be the final option to address water shortages in farmland falling in the canal’s command area, especially in the tail-end reaches, saving freshwater due to seepage losses and above all enabling the call to carry its designed discharge, which it never carried since its construction in the 1950s.

The work is ongoing under the Sindh Water and Agriculture Transformation (SWAT) project of the World Bank and will be executed at a cost of $320m. SWAT covers both the agriculture and water sectors as separate components as per project design. The procurement process will begin by next month, but lining of the canal will begin after the passage of the upcoming kharif season. Since water demand in the agriculture sector increases during the summer cropping season, lining works could not be undertaken.

The decision to re-line the canal was taken after the submission of the latest report by the Project Implementation Consultants (PICs) — the National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) and Associated Consulting Engineers (ACE) in SWAT. The present work relating to the Akram Wah rehabilitation now involves a cost of Rs21 billion, according to the SWAT (water component) project director (PD), Jamal Mangan.

The PICs reviewed a previous feasibility report of Akram Wah’s rehabilitation works, prepared under the Water Sector Improvement Project (WSIP). WSIP was executed by the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (Sida). “After going through the WSIP’s feasibility report, the PICs have come up with findings that re-lining of Akram Wah should be kept intact between RD (reduced distance)-0 to RD-193 to save the canal’s freshwater being lost through seepage in soil,” said https://i.dawn.com/primary/2024/01/65a381f022a58.jpgMr Mangan.

‘The Akram Wah canal faces serious water shortages often and we are not able to supply irrigation water to our farmers when it is needed’

‘The Akram Wah canal faces serious water shortages often and we are not able to supply irrigation water to our farmers when it is needed’

He said that recent groundwater investigations by the PICs, on the recommendation of the World Bank, showed that canal water, a precious commodity, was being lost through seepage in the bed, only to mix with brackish groundwater around Akram Wah.

In the WSIP’s feasibility report, the PD explained, “The lining was not preferred in........

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