DPWH to execute solutions to Dagupan flooding

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan — The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will implement dredging, deploy mobile pumps, and construct water detention basins to ease flooding in Dagupan City.

These actions will be done together with local government units (LGUs).

“The first thing we need to do is to dredge from the upstream of the Sinocalan River, since there are a lot of areas in the upstream of Dagupan City that are submerged in water for a long time,” DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said in an interview on Thursday afternoon.

He said dredging equipment will be mobilized in the coming days to begin dredging.

“Pangasinan Governor Ramon Guico III wants to help, and we will accept the dredging equipment from the province. We will deploy it along with our other equipment,” he said.

Dizon said that aside from dredging as an immediate solution, they will install four mobile pumps.

“When we dredge the Sinocalan River, we also need to remove the water that remains in other barangays. I am also checking all the gabions to see if any need repair,” he said.

The floodgates in Barangays Bacayao Sur and Bacayao Norte will also be opened after repair and later turned over to the City Engineering Office.

The backflow of the Pantal River in Careenan Poblacion Oeste will also be addressed.

“Those are the immediate ones. When I say immediate, I mean in the next few days. We will start with that. Then, we will go to the medium term,” the secretary said.

Dizon said medium-term solutions include constructing two water detention basins, similar to the project of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan at the St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in the city.

During flooding in the city, the church grounds remain dry because of its water detention system.

Dizon said the city will construct one water detention basin at the city plaza and another at Inarangan Lake.

The road and drainage system on Burgos Street, part of the central business district, will also be improved, he said.

“Medium-term solutions will start work in 2027. We will allot budget for it and, hopefully, before the rainy season in 2027, these will all be accomplished,” he added.

The long-term solution will include constructing a man-made lake or water detention basin on 47 hectares of land in Calasiao town.

“We will build a channel so that the water from Calasiao, before it even reaches Dagupan City, would be diverted directly to the Pantal River,” Dizon said.

This particular project requires at least two and a half years to plan and execute, he added.

He appealed for continuous LGU support for the projects. /apl