Metro Manila water supply from Angat Dam reduced

MANILA, Philippines—Metro Manila’s share of the water coming from Angat Dam in Norzagaray, Bulacan, has been reduced since the start of summer, a National Power Corp. (Napocor) official said.

From 46 cubic meters per second (cms) in January, this has gone down to 41 cms effective on April 1, Napocor president Gladys Cruz-Sta. Rita said in a phone interview on Thursday.

The reduction was approved by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) as “a precautionary move” due to Angat Dam’s diminishing water levels, she added.

As of 8 a.m. Thursday, the dam’s water level was at 190.20 meters above sea level (masl), lower than the 207.38 masl recorded in March 2013. Angat Dam’s critical level is 180 masl.

Sta. Rita, however, said that water rationing in the metropolis and delaying the planting season in Central Luzon would happen only should the rains come late this year.

Water rationing was last experienced by Metro residents in 2010 when the dam’s water level dropped to 167.55 masl that year.

“There have been no inflows [of water] to the [Sierra Madre] watersheds after Super Typhoon Yolanda [struck in November last year]. The [Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration] advised that rainfall would be normal this year. So [the lower water level] isn’t alarming so far. What we fear is the delayed onset of rains,” she told the Inquirer.

She said that the water levels at four other dams in Luzon were still above the minimum.

The water level at Ambuklao Dam in Bokod, Benguet, was recorded at 740.11 masl while that of Binga Dam in Itogon, Benguet, was at 567.55 masl; San Roque Dam in San Manuel, Pangasinan, was at 245.74 masl; and Caliraya in Lumban, Laguna, was at 286.7 masl.

Napocor officials manning the San Roque Dam said reservoir elevations there remained normal.

Meanwhile, the NWRB cut to 19 cms the allocation for farm irrigation in 17 Bulacan towns and four others in Pampanga, said Rodolfo German, general manager of Napocor’s Angat hydroelectric power plant.

Farmers have started to feel the impact of the reduced water allocation, according to Gloria Carillo, Bulacan agriculture officer, who said that the move had prompted the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to appeal to the NWRB.

Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado met with NIA officials last week to discuss a water management scheme to keep crops healthy while waiting for rains to elevate Angat Dam’s water level.

Precioso Donato Punzalan, an NIA official manning the Bustos Dam in Bulacan, said authorities first reduced irrigation water releases from 40 cms to 32 cms in February.

Since then, there has been a gradual decrease every week, he added.—With reports from Tonette Orejas, Carmela Reyes-Estrope and Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon