Pakistan allocates water to provinces for new crop season

Pakistan has approved the supply of water to provinces for the upcoming cropping season from October to December as the country looks to revive the agriculture sector, which suffered widespread devastation due to floods in the two biggest provinces of Punjab and Sindh earlier this year.

The Indus River System Authority (IRSA), which allocates water to each province, said it anticipated inflows of 22.02 million acre feet (MAF) of water for the Rabi cropping season. The overall water shortage is estimated to be 8%.

A press release issued after a meeting between IRSA and provinces said the water shortage was the lowest in the last 10 years.

In light of the water availability, the four provinces have been allocated a total of 33.81 MAF of water. Punjab, the largest province by population and the country’s breadbasket, has been allocated 18.2 MAF water, Sindh 13.73 MAF, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 0.7 MAF, and Balochistan 1.17 MAF.

The overall water allocation was higher than the 10-year average and last year's figures of 28.870 MAF and 29.427 MAF, respectively.

The water regulator also reviewed the province’s water utilization in the Kharif season from June to July.

The actual Kharif inflows were 122.364 MAF were higher than the expected inflows by 18%.

The provinces utilised 62.394 MAF water against the allocated 68.51 MAF. The lower utilization by the provinces was due to a very wet Kharif season with widespread monsoon rainfalls and floods, IRSA noted.

The heavy rainfall filled the reservoirs, taking the country’s total water storage to 13.21 MAF —99% of the maximum storage capacity — by September 30.

The water availability stands in stark contrast to the situation earlier this year, when the country was facing a drought.

In March, dams across the country reached dead levels due to lower-than-normal rainfall.

Pakistan relies heavily on river water for irrigation as the country’s agricultural heartlands are irrigated through canals originating from the country’s five major rivers.

From September 2024 to March 2025, Pakistan faced a 40% below-average rainfall, with some regions going over 200 days without a downpour.