AREA WATER BOARDS
34. Board of Management –
1) Subject to the overall control and guidance of the AWB Board of an AWB, the affairs of that AWB shall be managed by a Board of Management formed by the Director and as many Managers as that AWB may reasonably require for the purpose.
2) Sub-section (2) to (4) of Sub-section 12 shall mutatis mutandis apply to the Board.
35. Water Allocation Committees
1) Each AWB shall establish and maintain a WAC. If the AWB has branch canals taking off from the main canal and conveying water to FOs, the AWB shall also establish and maintain WACs at branch level.
2) The WAC at AWB level shall consist of -
a) the Director AWB or anybody appointed by him;
b) one engineer of all branches;
c) two elected farmer representatives from each branch, in such a way that from each branch one farmer is a tail end farmer or a small farmer; and
d) two representatives of the District with the largest area within the jurisdiction of the AWB, provided that a District is not represented in more than one WAC.
3) Sub-section (3), (4) and (5) of Sub-section 13 shall mutatis mutandis apply to the WAC.
4) The tasks of the WAC at AWB level are:
a) to establish, in close coordination with the WAC at Barrage level, a systematic basis for water rights of the various branch canals, using the design discharges, design cultivable command area and land use, historic discharges, historic cultivable command area and land use, and actual hydraulic conditions. Special attention should be given to rights and distribution in times of drought;
b) to determine (initially on basis of design discharges, evolving over time to negotiated water rights incorporating the limitations posed by the infrastructural conditions, historic discharges, and market principles) the water share of the branch canals under “normal water availability” for weekly intervals. A register for these water rights should be developed in the AWB;
c) to inspect the register on water rights periodically (minimally each season) and ensure it is correctly, timely and systematically updated;
d) to plan each season the water allocation for the various canals for a weekly interval, using the established water rights (or design discharges as the case may be), the forecasted water availability during the season, and special considerations for each branch canal;
e) to adapt the planning of the water distribution if real water availability deviates from the forecasted;
f) to ensure discharge measurements are carried correctly (technically as well as with integrity), at the correct places and with appropriate intervals;
g) to compare the planned discharges to the actual discharges and explain differences;
h) to publish and make accessible to the AWB-divisions, and specifically the farmers in the command area via various media (newspapers (Sindhi, Urdu, English), bulletin boards, television, radio and internet), the comparison mentioned under g) and all water distribution planning and its adjustments. This should be done on a regular basis, however, and in no case at an interval of more than one month;
i) to suggest infrastructural and maintenance works to be carried out on Canal level in order to enable water distribution as required;
