Sindh, Pakistan, is in a crisis, with severe water shortages for drinking and cultivation.

Due to lower upstream flows, all three barrages in Sindh province have been experiencing acute shortages, prompting irrigation authorities to implement a rotation scheme to distribute limited water to all receivers in calibrated quantities, according to The Dawn. Water shortages have also been reported in Pakistan's Balochistan province, prompting irrigation authorities to implement a rotation program for the Sukkur Barrage's four left bank canals in order to deliver water to the right bank canals.

The barrage authorities have begun restricting the flow of two major Rohri and Nara canals. According to estimations, the Guddu and Sukkur barrages are currently experiencing a 19% and 14% shortfall, respectively.

Balochistan has a 9% deficiency at Guddu Barrage and a 35% shortage in Sukkur, according to ten-daily water allocations under the Water Apportionment Accord 1991.

According to The Dawn, the Kotri Barrage has seen a few thousand' flows downstream in recent days due to lower flows. On August 18, the barrage had 9,000 cusecs, but by August 25, it had reduced to 397 cusecs. According to data from the irrigation department, the Kotri Barrage had a maximum discharge of 250,345 cusecs on August 7 for only 48 hours.

The scarcity occurs during the river system's flood season (August).

Following the situation, the Sindh government urged the Indus River System Authority on Saturday "not to transport water from the Indus river to the Jhelum-Chenab system through the Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Panjnad connection canals," according to Dawn.

The functioning of Sindh's canals has always been a contentious subject, and it did so again this year when, in the first week of May, the canals were allowed to draw water without reaching predicted supplies of Sindh's barrages during the Kharif season. The situation has been unchanged since then.