Sukkur Barrage and right bank canals face the issue of excessive sediment ingress and the reduced flood-carrying capacity.
By Rehan khan Khushik
HYDERABAD
Mr. Edmond Atkinson, sedimentation specialist UK, has said that there are two broad issues regarding sedimentation at barrages of Sindh, especially at Sukkur barrage, like the issue of excessive sediment ingress to the right Bank canals and the reduced flood-carrying capacity of the barrage.
He said that these issues are tied together, and the absence of measures to address sediment ingress to the Right Bank canals, has reduced Barrage Flood Carrying capacity.
He was addressing the one-day workshop on “sediment management at Sukkur Barrage’ on Friday at Gymkhana Hyderabad. It was attended by irrigation and water experts and officials of Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri barrages. They discussed the major issue of sedimentation at three barrages of Sindh and its solution.
Edmond Atkinson further said that there are several options to explore for addressing the sediment ingress into canals, and added that some sediment passing to the canals is good to enable a balance between sediment inflow and the canals sediment carrying capacity but excesses sediment entry causes the problem.
He said that there are other options to address the sedimentation in the canals like dredging in canals, dredging in pockets, closing canals during peak times of flow, continue flushing using the pockets and Tail Channel, and intermittent flushing in the pockets.
He said that increasing the pond level will be good for all aspects of the sedimentation problem in the right bank canals. It will specially increase the effectiveness of flushing in the left and right pockets so long as the increased risk of local scour does not limit barrage gate openings.
It is possible that flushing may need to be undertaken as slightly lower water level than 209ft which will improve the effectiveness, he said.
Project Director, Sindh Barrages Improvement Project (SBIP) Ghulam Mohi u Ddin Mughal, Coordinator Planning and Development Sindh Ehsan Leghari, Pretam Das MD SIDA, Abdul Razak Memon, Director SBIP, Dr. Altaf Syal, Dean Faculty of Engineering Sindh Agriculture University, Prof Abdul Latif Qureshi of MUET Jamshoro, Abdullah Bhurgari SE Small Dams, Habibullah Ursani, Director Hydrology and Research in Sindh, Sajid Ali Bhutto Deputy Project Director SBIP, SE Kotri Barrage Sohail Hameed Baloch , Technical officer SBIP Imran Aziz Tunio, Tariq Asad Ursani Deputy Director Resettlement SBIP and Dr. Ali Asgar Mahesar Deputy Director Environment, other experts of irrigation and water Faraz Ahmed Noonari, Akbar Theabo, Habib Rehman Rahmoon and Ghulam Sarwar Farooqi also discussed the sedimentation issues at Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri barrages and advised its solution.
Project Director SBIP Ghulam Mohi u Ddin Mughal, Coordinator Planning and Development Sindh Ehsan Leghari, Abdul Razak Memon Director SBIP distributed certificates among participants. Later, Edmond Atkinson sedimentation specialist visited the Kotri barrage and observed the sedimentation issues at barrage. He was accompanied by irrigation officials SE Kotri Barrage Sohail Hameed Baloch, Engineer Kotri barrage Aurangzeb Memon and deputy project director SBIP Sajid Ali Bhutto.
Earlier he had also visited the Guddu and Sukkur Barrages over the sedimentation issue and also held a meeting with irrigation officials.
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