Pakistan, Oct. 8 -- The Tarbela Dam water level has become the center of a dispute between the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) and Wapda. On Tuesday, Irsa rejected Wapda's request to release nearly half of Tarbela's stored water within a month. The regulator also refused to extend deadlines for two delayed tunnels, calling the proposal risky and unnecessary.

At the Irsa Advisory Committee meeting, chaired by Sahibzada Muhammad Shabbir, officials expressed concern over Wapda's long delays in completing Tunnel 5 and the Tunnel 4 Low Level Outlet. Wapda sought to lower the reservoir level from 1,550 feet to 1,495 feet by November 10, but Irsa warned that doing so would waste 2.8 million acre-feet of water when irrigation demand is low. ...