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SCADA System for Surface Water Resource Audit in the Indus Basin Irrigation
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 SCADA System for Surface Water Resource Audit in the
Indus Basin Irrigation System
Dr. Noor M Shiekh
Dean of Electrical Engineering
University of Engineering &
Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
Email: deanee@uet.edu.pk
ABSTRACT
The livelihood of a principal part of Pakistan’s
population depends on irrigation water, a key resource
which is increasingly becoming contentious as the
demand grows while the supply remains at the mercy
of nature and vagaries of climate. The use of this
precious natural resource is regulated by dams,
barrages and a network of canals constructed during
the past 100 hundred years on the Indus basin river
system. This irrigation system is controlled by a
regulatory authority which comprises representatives
of all stakeholders. Until recently, the monitoring of
water amongst the stakeholders was done by manual
measuring and recording open channel water flow at
key distribution points. The manual system of
measurement and recording was prone to both willful
and accidental data corruption raising doubts and
misgivings amongst the stakeholders. Described
hereafter is a recently commissioned project where
SCADA techniques have been used to automatically
measure and record water flows at key locations
across the country. The measurements so collected are
distributed via satellite to all stakeholders to stem all
doubts of unfair distribution.
1. INTRODUCTION
Pakistan has one of the largest irrigation networks
called the Indus Basin Irrigation System comprising
rivers, canals, hydroelectric dams and barrages. The
major rivers and irrigation structures are depicted in
Fig. 1 Irrigation Network.
1.1. THE PROBLEM
Agriculture is the staple input to the Pakistan’s
predominantly agrarian economy. Water is the
lifeblood of Agriculture. Each of the four provinces of
Pakistan strives to maximize its share of irrigation
water in order to enhance their agricultural output. The
requirement of sharing the limited irrigation water that
is available leads to perception of inequitable
distribution of the same especially by the lower
riparian followed by insinuations and allegations. This
creates mistrust and bad blood.
In order to promote harmony and good faith amongst
provinces, this vital resource i.e. irrigation water is
equitably distributed to the provinces according to pre-
allocated shares agreed upon in the Water
Syed Shahid Hussain and Aamir Ashraf
National Engineering Services Pakistan
Ltd. (NESPAK) Lahore, Pakistan
shahidhussain@nespak.com.pk
aamirashraf@nespak.com.pk
Apportionment Accord (WAA). The federal regulatory
authority was established to implement the WAA.
Each of the four provinces is represented in this
regulatory authority by a member.
In order to make the decisions on water allocation to
various provinces the regulatory authority needs
hydrometric data on periodic basis from all dams,
barrages and canals of the Indus basin irrigation
system covering the entire geographical expanse of
Pakistan. For this purpose each measuring point has a
unique discharge formulae derived from the
hydrological model of each head regulator. The
variables which determine the discharge calculations
are; upstream water level; downstream water level;
gate opening. The fixed parameters for these
calculations are; gate width and discharge co efficient.
Additionally, various boundary conditions apply to the
discharge calculations. Based on these factors,
discharge curves for each measuring site have been
derived for all possible boundary conditions.
Previously these curves were used for discharge
calculation by operators at each measuring site on
periodic basis. The calculated values were sent by
telephone and/or facsimile to the regulatory authority
in Islamabad. There was general dissatisfaction within
the stakeholders on this manual procedure as it was
prone to errors of omission or commission by the
operators or the intermediaries. Altercations on the
validity of data and consequent water apportionment
were frequent. Such disagreements sometimes had
political overtones threatening inter provincial
harmony.
1.2. THE SOLUTION
In order to demonstrate an equitable distribution of
water between all the four members of the regulatory
authority, by a definitive and verifiable means, the
Government of Pakistan decided to establish a SCADA
based remote gauging and telemetry system at all the
barrages and the heads of all canals in the national
irrigation system. By implementation of this project,
the Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authorities, the
regulatory authority and the relevant Ministry of the
Federal Government can, in real time, monitor the
discharges at all the barrages and canal regulators.
This project utilizes state-of-the-art, sophisticated
electronic hardware to calculate water discharges in
real time by measuring water levels and gate positions.
Water supplied to each province is monitored and boundary conditions. The software for calculating this
controlled at various barrages, referred to as discharge must therefore use algorithm to take care of
measurement sites. The quantity of water supplied to all possible conditions [1]. In general the discharge
each province is monitored at each measurement algorithm depends on three measurable variables i.e.,
(water distribution) site by automated means that is upstream water level, gate opening and downstream
free from human intervention. The quantities so water level. In addition to these variables, certain site
measured are then transmitted to all the stake holders dependent constants are also important e.g., gate width
using VSAT as communication infrastructure for data and co efficient of discharge which in turn depends on
transmission. crest width and shape.
The following are the twenty three (23) water For the Indus Basin Irrigation System, the discharge
measurement and distribution sites: formulae have been determined at each site for
different boundary conditions [2] [3]. These are given
1 Tarbela Dam in Appendix herein.
2 Nowshera
3 Jinnah Barrage A human machine interface (HMI) in the shape of a
4 Chasma Barrage computer terminal in the control room enables all data
5 Taunsa Barrage including water levels, gate openings and water
6 Guddu Barrage discharges to be monitored by an operator locally. The
control room also houses the transmitting station of a
7 Sukkur Barrage
VSAT (very small aperture satellite Terminal) which
8 Kotri Barrage
beams all of the measured parameters to a geo-
9 Garang Regulator stationary satellite in the earths orbit. The same
10 Pat Feeder Canal information is then transmitted down from the satellite
11 Uch Canal to the regulatory authority’s headquarters in Islamabad,
12 Manuthy Canal shown in Fig. 3, where it is further processed for
13 Mangla Dam onward transmission to the following seven monitoring
14 Rasul Barrage sites:
15 Trimmu Barrage Š Provincial Irrigation Department NWFP,
16 Panjnad Barrage Peshawar.
17 Marla Barrage
Š Provincial Irrigation Department Punjab, Lahore.
18 Khanki Barrage
19 Qadirabad Barrage Š Provincial Irrigation Department Sindh, Karachi.
20 Balloki Barrage Š Provincial Irrigation Department Baluchistan,
21 Sidhnai Barrage Quetta.
22 Sulemanki Barrage Š Chief Engineer Hydrology & Water Management
23 Islam Barrage Lahore.
Š Chief Engineer Provincial Irrigation Department
2. HOW IS IT DONE Baluchistan, Dera Murad Jamali.
Š Chief Engineering Advisor, Ministry of Water &
The distribution of water is accomplished by opening Power, Islamabad.
and closing gates at the head and cross regulators at
each of the measurement sites. Non contact, optical 3. PROJECT FACILITIES
encoder type electronic sensors have been installed at To preclude the possibility of data corruption, the
each gate of the barrage and at all the off-taking canals entire process starting from the measurement of gate
to measure the gate openings of each individual gate. openings and water levels, to the electronic calculation
Ultrasonic water level sensors working on the SONAR of discharges, and the transmission of the same is
principle (a measurement technique similar to automatically done at prescheduled instants in real
RADAR) have been installed at up stream and down time, programmable for both the time and frequency of
stream locations to convey water levels in real time to the measurements without any human intervention.
a local control room. The beneficiaries of the system (the seven monitoring
A schematic layout of the system is given in Fig. 2. sites) can view discharges with any pre-programmed
The PLCs (programmable logic controllers) connected frequency, i.e. daily, hourly, quarter hourly, every
to LAN are distributed along the regulating structure minute, or randomly as needed. A historical data base
for data acquisition from the sensors. The control room is also available enabling perusal of historical data for
houses main servers which calculate from the sensor trend analyses and future planning. Satellite
data the actual water discharge values. For this purpose telecommunication facilities enable speech
customized software is installed on these servers. The communication and the exchange of fax messages
calculated water discharges into each of the canals and between all the measuring sites and the regulatory
the discharge downstream of each main barrage is thus authority. The system has been designed for a twenty
obtained. four hour duty cycle and shall function round the
clock. To prevent data discontinuities due to power
As explained above, the hydrometry of surface water blackouts, a fail safe, reliable, power supply system
discharge is a complex task depending on a number of with autonomy ranging from one to eight hours at
different sites has been provided. A subset of the 0.90-0.92 3.10
information available at each monitoring site is also 0.80-0.90 3.15
available to the general public on the World Wide 0.70-0.80 3.20
Web. The project includes infrastructure necessary for where
the remote and automatic control of water flows. By d=Gate Opening
extending the project facilities, water discharges can be B=Width of Gate
remotely controlled by the regulatory authority without H=Head Over Crest Ha =Head due to Velocity of
any human intervention from the staff stationed at each Approach
site. Minimal additional investment for the electronic
interfacing to, and motorization of the gates presently 3. With gates partially open, standing wave formed
operated manually will be required to implement this and downstream water above crest level
remote control feature. ‘Gate opening<Water Height,
‘Downstream level>Crest Level
3 3
4. CONCLUSION Q = C × B × {( H 1 + H a ) 2
− (H 2 + H a ) 2 }

Two years down the road the project is operating where

satisfactorily. There were few teething problems due to
unfamiliarity of the system by the users and their
general reluctance to accept a different method of
hydrometric data acquisition as against their age old
method of manual calculation. However, these
problems are being gradually ironed out as the users
progress on their learning curve.
REFERENCES
C=3.3
H1 = Upstream Water Level-Crest Level
H2 = Upstream Water Level-Gate Opening
Ha =Head due to Velocity of Approach
4. With gates partially open, standing wave formed
and downstream level below the crest level
‘Gate opening<Water Height, Downstream
level<Crest Level
1
Q = 4.8 × B × d × ( H w ) 2

[1] U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Where

Reclamation. “Design of Small Dams.” 2nd Hw = Working Head
Edition , 1974 B=Width of Gate
[2] M.G. Bos. “Design Of Measurement d=Gate opening
Structures.”
5. With gates partially open, no standing wave
[3] U.S. Army Core of Engineers. “Hydraulic
formed (Submerged Condition)
Design Criteria” 1985.
‘Gate opening<Water Height, Downstream
APPENDIX: DISCHARGE FORMULAE FOR level>Crest Level
CALCULATION OF DISCHARGE THROUGH 1
WIER AND UNDERSLUICES Q = 6.5 × B × d × (WH ) 2

Where
1. Standing Wave formed, and gates above water
‘Gate opening>Water Height, B=Width of Gate
‘Downstream level<Crest Level d=Gate opening
Q = C × B × (H + H a )
3
2 WH= Upstream Water Level-Downstream Water
Level
where
C=3.3
2 DISCHARGE FORMULAE FOR CANALS
Ha = V a
2× g
Q=Discharge Q = K × ( D) n
g=32.2 Where K and n are Constants whose values vary from
H=Head Over Crest site to site.
Va =Velocity of Approach D= Water Depth calculated from Gauge. Examples are
Ha =Head due to Velocity of Approach given below.
B=Width of Gate Eg. 1
Q = K × ( D) n
2. Standing Wave not fully formed and gates above where
water ‘Gate opening>Water Height, K=431.3138
‘Downstream level≥Crest Level n=1.398153
Q = C × B × (H + H a )
3
2 Gauge=Water Depth + 2.1 (Dead Water)
The value of C varies with the change in drowning
Eg. 2
ratio (d/H) 5
Q = K × (d ) 3

Drowning Ratio Value of C where

0.95-0.96 3.00 K=105.84
0.93-0.94 3.05 d=Gauge+0.1
 Indus River

Neelum River
rth
No
Tertela Jhelum River
Reservoir
Ku
nh Ka
ar s
Pa hmir
r Ri
Warsak ve ve
Dam Ri r ki s
Kabul River H aro t an Chenab River
Mangla
r
ve Reservoir
Ri Marala

Ravi River
an Barrage
So

Jhelum
Kala Bagh Reservoir
(proposed)
Jinnah

Sutlej River
Barrage
Thal Canal

Kurram River Barrage

Barrage

Chasma
Reservoir Qadirabad
Barrage
C.R.B.C

Thal Reservoir
(proposed) Balloki Sulemanki
Gomal River ab Barrage
Chen
Barrage

Trimmu
Barrage
Rangpur Canal

U. Pakpattan
Chenab

Pakpattan
Ravi

Islam
Barrage
ab

Barrage
Chen

j
Sutle
er
d Riv
njn a ad
P u jn n
Pu

Guddu
Barrage
er
ed

Gu
Fe

dd
t
Pa

uF
ee
de
r

Bukkur
Barrage

Fig 1.
Kotri
Barrage Schematic Diagram
Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS)

Arabian Sea
 To To To To Regulatory Authority Headquarters
Sensors Sensors Sensors

Control Room

DAU DAU DAU Communication

Server

L o c a l A r e a N e t w o r k

DAU DAU DAU

To Sensors To Sensors To Sensors Laser Operator

DAS DAS
Printer Workstation

LEGEND
DAS Data Acquisition Server
DAU Data Acquisition Unit
Fig. 2. Schematic Layout of Data Acquisition Sub System at remote sites

To remote sites

Internet

Communication Communication
Server Server Web Server
Monitoring Site

LAN (redundant)

LAN (redundant)

Color Inkjet Laser printer

Data Processing Data Processing Operator Printer
Server Server Workstation

Fig. 3 Diagram of the Monitoring Site at Regulatory Authority Headquarters.

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