Rabi crops: IRSA increases water supply by seven percent

The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has downgraded projected water shortage for Rabi crops 2013-14 from 15 percent to 7 percent during the months of February and March as water availability in the dams and the rivers has improved considerably.

Punjab Canal Regulator and Consultant, M.H.Siddiqui, told Business Recorder here on Friday that in addition to the running water in the four live rivers of the country, 4.6 million acre ft water was still available in Tarbela and Mangla dams and Chashma reservoir for growing and maturing crops including wheat, grams, lentils, oilseeds, vegetables, fodder and orchards etc in February and March.
2.434 MAF water is available in Tarbela dam on river Indus, 2.094 MAF in Mangla dam on river Jhelum and 0.079 MAF in Chashma barrage, he added. Siddiqui said Punjab Irrigation department has been running canals in central Punjab by drawing 20,000 cusecs water from the Mangla dam and 7,300 cusecs run of the river Chenab water, yet it will open canals emanating from river Indus on 5th February 2014.

He said since the repairs work of the Qadirabad Barrage on the river Chenab and Balloki headwork on the river Ravi is still going on, the irrigation canals taking off from these water regulators would be opened on 5th February to supply water to the districts of Okara, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Bahawalnagar to water the crops.

According to January 31 rivers flows and reservoirs level report of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), IRSA is releasing about 70,000 cusecs water in the water ways across the country against the inflow of 36,000 cusecs at the rim stations of the river Indus 14,300 cusecs, river Kabul 8600 cusecs, Jhelum 7,000 and Chenab 7,300 cusecs.

Meanwhile Meteorological department has said that 3 to 4 spells of winter rain/ snowfall are expected during the month of February 2014.The first spell is likely to occur during the first week of February, barani areas of wheat crop may receive good rain during the period.

Source: Business Recorder

KB urges government to declare water as national asset

Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) Central President Sardar Zafar Hussein has urged the rulers to immediately declare water as a national asset and make efforts for implementation on Indus Basin Water Treaty instead of entering in to any new agreement with India. He said that the government should give preference to shortage of water being created due to Indian water aggression against Pakistan. Only solution to energy crisis is construction of immediate new dams. Zafar, while reacting to the Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif's statement of doing a new agreement with India instead of following the Indus Basin Water Treaty, KBP Chief stated that India had already deprived Pakistan of 90 percent of the river water by construction hundreds of new dams due to ineptness of Indus Water Commission officers, past and present rulers.
In the eyes of Kisan Board, the biggest issued being faced by Pakistan today is water shortage and Indian aggression against Pakistan but present rulers, in the love of India, were totally ignoring this harsh fact endangering the economy and sovereignty of Pakistan. Meanwhile Agri Forum Pakistan (AFP) Chairman Dr Muhammad Ibrahim Mughal in an e-statement on the similar issue alleged that India has launched a silent war against Pakistan and constructing many new dams on Jhelum and Chenab.

Source: http://www.brecorder.com

5 Secrets To Watering Your Garden

1. Try a Toothpick Watering Test

Just as you test a baking cake for doneness by sticking it with a wooden toothpick, you can do the same to see whether a garden bed needs watering. Stick the toothpick into the soil as far as it will go, then examine it. If it comes out clean, it's time to water. If any soil clings to the pick, you can forgo watering and test the soil again the next day

2. Bury Milk Jug Tricklers

Tomatoes aren't the only garden plants that like lots of water. Others with a big thirst include squashes, melons, and rosebushes. How to keep them quenched? Bury plastic milk-jug reservoirs alongside. Start by perforating a jug in several places. Dig a planting hole large enough to accommodate both plant and jug, and bury the jug so its spout is at soil level. After refilling the hole and tamping down the soil, fill the jug with water. Then top it to overflowing at least once a week, and your plant's roots will stay nice and moist.

3. Offer a Cup of Tea To Your Ferns

Also, when planting a fern, put a used tea bag in the bottom of the planting hole to act as a reservoir while the fern adapts to its new spot; the roots will draw up a bit more nitrogen. Another drink ferns like: a very weak solution of household ammonia and water (1 tablespoon ammonia to 1 litre water), which also feeds them a little nitrogen.

4. Add Borax to Sun-Sensitive Plants

To keep direct sunlight from burning the leaves of ferns, azaleas, yews, hollies, hostas, and herbs such as thyme and chives, add borax to your watering can — 1 tablespoon dissolved in 4 litres of water. Wet the leaves of the plants and soak the soil with the solution a couple of times in the spring (more than two treatments is overdoing it), and your plants will be better able to stand up to the sun's hot rays in summer.

5. Recycle Unsalted Cooking Water

Boiled foods release nutrients of one kind or another, so why pour their cooking water down the drain? Let the water cool, and then use it to give a garden plant or two a healthful drink. But take note: When you cook any of the following, do not add salt to the water because salt is harmful to plants.

• Eggs: Hardboiled eggs leave calcium in the cooking water, so use the liquid to water calcium-loving solanaceous garden plants: tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, chayote squash, tomatillos.

• Spinach: Plants need iron, too — and spinach water gives them not only iron but also a decent dose of potassium.

• Pasta: Starchy water will spur the release of plant nutrients in the soil, meaning starch may be better for plants than for you.

• Potatoes: Ditto.

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