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Water Allocation for Seasonal Water Sharing
Water allocation for seasonal water sharing is best undertaken 
within the context of a river basin plan that sets out the water 
shares for different uses and groups of users. However, this ideal 
situation is often not met and water sharing must be managed 
among existing water users without guiding principles and 
expectations for water shares being known among water users. 
In such a case, relative reliabilities of supply between different 
groups of water users will not be public knowledge within 
the basin community and more widely in the community. 
Therefore, advice about the other water users in the basin, their 
need for water and the required reliability of supply, about the 
environmental needs within the river and the importance of 
maintaining river biodiversity, should be part of the information 
provided at a seasonal water sharing meeting.
In addition, seasonal water sharing must respond to 
timescales which are set by the yearly seasonal calendar and, 
because of the very high proportion of water use demanded by 
agriculture, the relationship of agricultural water requirements 
to agricultural planning, decision making and crop
production.
In the Panj Amu River basin, the pattern of river flow and 
that of agricultural water demand are closely synchronized. The 
flow in the river is just starting to increase at the same time as 
farmers are making decisions on crop planting. Thus there is a 
limited amount of time to communicate with water user groups, 
and to establish understanding of the expected water availability, 
the uncertainty associated with the forecast water availability 
and the possible responses to water shortage by the various 
water user groups. Well prepared presentations and handouts 
can assist in overcoming these issues.
The water available for sharing among water users should 
be that remaining from the forecast river flow after meeting 
environmental requirements. The pattern of water demand 
through the year and the diversion capability of offtakes will 
also need to be taken into consideration.
The water estimated to be available is separated into two 
amounts which will be provided to two broad groups of water 
users — (i) permanent crop/orchard, industry and domestic/
urban water users and (ii) annual crop agricultural water users. 
High reliability supply is provided for the town, industry and 
orchard crop water users. The available water first meets the 
need for high reliability supply and the remaining forecast 
supply is then divided proportionally among the annual crop 
water users.