Sindh Water Crisis Update — Farmers Speak Out as IRSA Raises Flows

New details on Sindh's water crisis as IRSA raises flows after crop losses. Farmers near Hyderabad describe dying paddy nurseries and what the latest water release actually means for the region.

There is a farmer in Sujawal — not far from Hyderabad, served by the Old Phuleli canal that runs through Kotri Barrage — watching his paddy nursery die in front of him this week. His name is Nadeem Shah. His words are simple and devastating: "This year nursery is dying."

This is what Sindh's water crisis actually looks like up close. Not percentages on a government letter. A man watching the crop that feeds his family wither because the water that should be flowing through his canal simply is not arriving.

What Just Happened — IRSA Responds

After weeks of mounting pressure, IRSA has raised Chashma flows for Sindh following the reported crop losses. This is a direct response to the crisis that has been building since early June — and it is the first concrete sign of federal action since Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah escalated his appeals to the Prime Minister.

But the relief is not immediate. The added water is expected to take about five days to reach Guddu Barrage and a further seven days to reach Kotri Barrage — the barrage that serves Hyderabad and the surrounding district — where the shortages have been most severe.

That is nearly two weeks before this additional water actually reaches the canals that feed farms near Hyderabad. For a paddy nursery that needs transplanting within a specific window, two weeks can be the difference between a harvest and a failed season.

Why the Water Is Being Released at the Wrong Point

This is a detail that explains a lot about why Sindh's farmers feel like their crisis keeps being managed badly even when the federal government does respond.

Sindh's water indent is being supplied at Chashma — far upstream — despite repeated demands from the province that releases should be made at Guddu Barrage instead, specifically to reduce transit losses.

Think about what this means practically. Water released far upstream has to travel a much longer distance through the river system before it reaches Sindh's canals. Along that journey — through evaporation, seepage, and absorption into the riverbed itself — a significant portion of that water never arrives at all. It is lost in transit.

If the same volume of water were released closer to where Sindh actually needs it — at Guddu Barrage rather than Chashma — far less would be lost along the way and Sindh's farmers would receive water faster and in greater quantity.

Sindh has been asking for exactly this change for years. The fact that releases continue to happen at Chashma despite repeated requests suggests this is not simply an oversight — it reflects how water management decisions in the Indus system get made, and where the leverage in those decisions actually sits.

The Numbers From the Ground

The scale of the shortage becomes real when you look at specific canals serving the areas around Hyderabad.

On 14 June 2026, the Old Phuleli canal — which serves Sujawal and draws from Kotri Barrage, the barrage that supplies water to Hyderabad district — was facing a 61 percent shortage.
That is not a minor reduction. That is well over half the water that should be flowing through that canal simply not being there.

In upper Sindh, the North Western Canal — fed by Sukkur Barrage — was facing a 46 percent reduction in flows on the same date, second only to Sukkur Barrage's Dadu Canal which was reporting a 68 percent shortage.

These are not abstract statistics. Ishaq Mughairi, a farmer whose land is served by the North Western Canal, said distributaries in his area had not received enough water even for nurseries. Across multiple districts in Sindh, farmers are reporting essentially the same story — water that should be there for the most basic stage of crop preparation simply is not arriving.

Why Timing Makes This So Dangerous for Farmers

Nadeem Shah, the farmer from Sujawal, explained why the timing of this shortage is particularly damaging — hybrid paddy loses strength if it is not transplanted within 40 days of nursery preparation, and missing that window reduces yields significantly.

This is the part of the water crisis that government data and policy letters often miss entirely. Agriculture does not run on a flexible schedule that can simply wait for water to arrive whenever the system gets around to releasing it. Crops have biological windows. Rice nurseries need water now, not in two weeks. A farmer who cannot transplant within that window does not get a delayed harvest — he gets a reduced one, or sometimes none at all.

This is why the timing of IRSA's response — even though it represents real federal action — may arrive too late for farmers whose 40-day windows are already closing.

What Could Have Been Done Differently

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture Senior Vice Chairman Nabi Bux Sathio observed that the situation might have unfolded differently if the issue had been raised earlier in the National Assembly, or if the Chief Minister had written to the Prime Minister sooner.

This is a notable admission from someone representing Sindh's farming community directly — suggesting that part of the damage being felt right now might have been avoidable with faster political escalation. It is a reminder that water crises like this one are not purely natural or purely federal failures — provincial responsiveness and timing matter too.

The Bigger Numbers Behind This Crisis

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah's letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif laid out the scale of the imbalance clearly — Sindh is receiving 57,867 cusecs against its allocated share of 98,700 cusecs, a 41 percent shortage. Punjab, by comparison, is facing only a 10 percent shortage during the same period.

What makes this especially frustrating for Sindh is the context. River inflows into the overall system are about 40 percent higher than the same period last year, and water levels in major reservoirs have increased by 16 percent. There is more water in the system overall — yet Sindh's actual supply has continued to fall. Murad Ali Shah described this as a worrying trend and alleged that priority is being given to filling reservoirs rather than ensuring fair distribution under the agreed water-sharing system.

He has urged the federal government to delay reservoir filling until the monsoon season so that provinces can receive their required share in the meantime, and has called for strict implementation of the 1991 Water Apportionment Accord.

What This Means for Hyderabad Specifically

Hyderabad sits directly on the Kotri Barrage system — the exact barrage where shortages have been described as most severe. The Old Phuleli Canal that runs through Kotri and serves areas including Sujawal is the same broader canal network connected to the water that should be reaching farms and eventually households around Hyderabad district.

This connects directly to what Hyderabad residents have been experiencing in the city itself — the dry taps, the dependence on water tankers, the HWSC supply failures covered in recent weeks. The river-level crisis playing out in cusecs and canal percentages is the same crisis that shows up as an empty bucket under your tap.

The Sindh Chief Minister has confirmed that work on IRSA's telemetry system — the technology used to measure and verify actual water flows at different points in the system — is currently underway. Better measurement does not create more water, but it does make it much harder for upstream over-withdrawal to go undetected and unaddressed in future disputes — a meaningful long-term step even if it does not solve this week's shortage.

What Happens Next

The additional water released at Chashma is working its way down the system now. It should reach Guddu Barrage in roughly five days and Kotri Barrage — serving Hyderabad — in roughly twelve days from the release.

For farmers whose nursery windows are already closing, this may be a case of help arriving after the most critical moment has passed. For the broader water situation in and around Hyderabad over the coming weeks, it should provide at least partial relief to a system that has been under severe stress.

The structural question — whether Sindh continues to receive a disproportionate share of any system-wide shortage compared to Punjab, and whether releases will start happening at points that minimise transit losses rather than at Chashma — remains unresolved. That is the conversation that will determine whether this kind of crisis repeats next year, and the year after that.

For now, Hyderabad and the farmers in its surrounding districts wait for water that is, at least, finally moving.

This crisis connects directly to what we covered earlier — read the full background on Sindh's water shortage and how it is hitting Hyderabad.

Frequently Asked Questions About

the Sindh Water Crisis Update

Has IRSA increased water flows to Sindh?

Yes. IRSA has raised Chashma flows for Sindh following reported crop losses across the province. The additional water is expected to take approximately five days to reach Guddu Barrage and around twelve days total to reach Kotri Barrage, which serves Hyderabad and the surrounding district.

Why does Sindh want releases made at Guddu instead of Chashma?

Sindh has repeatedly requested that water releases be made at Guddu Barrage rather than Chashma because Chashma is much further upstream, meaning a significant portion of released water is lost to transit losses — evaporation and seepage — before it reaches Sindh's canals. Releasing water closer to Sindh would reduce these losses and deliver more usable water faster.

How bad is the water shortage in canals near Hyderabad?

As of 14 June 2026, the Old Phuleli Canal, which draws from Kotri Barrage and serves areas including Sujawal near Hyderabad, was facing a 61 percent shortage. This has significantly affected paddy nursery preparation in the area, with farmers reporting nurseries dying due to insufficient water.

What is the gap between Sindh's water allocation and actual supply?

According to Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah's letter to the Prime Minister, Sindh is receiving 57,867 cusecs against its allocated share of 98,700 cusecs — a 41 percent shortage. This compares to only a 10 percent shortage in Punjab during the same period, despite overall river inflows being about 40 percent higher than the previous year.

Why is timing so important for paddy farmers during this water shortage?

Hybrid paddy crops lose strength and yield significantly if not transplanted from the nursery within approximately 40 days. A water shortage that delays nursery preparation or transplanting beyond this window causes permanent yield loss, even if water arrives later — unlike crops that can simply wait for water to become available.

What is IRSA's telemetry system?

IRSA's telemetry system is a technology infrastructure project currently underway to accurately measure and verify real-time water flows at different points in the Indus River system. Improved telemetry is intended to make water allocation disputes between provinces easier to verify and resolve based on actual data rather than disputed claims.