Luzon dams dropping but not critical

Pantabangan Dam. INQUIRER.net file photo

SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ, Philippines—The water level at Pantabangan Dam, the major source of irrigation water for rice-rich Nueva Ecija province during the summer cropping period, dropped to 182.01 meters above sea level (masl) on Saturday, but farmers and officials of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said it was “a natural occurrence that should not worry anyone.”

“It is the dry season,” said Josephine Salazar, operations manager of NIA’s Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems.

The summer heat and the increase in irrigation demand accounted for the reduced water level, which was 11 meters above its critical level of 171.5 masl.

“There have been no problems with regard to irrigation water,” said Wilfredo Bernardo, who tills 8 hectares of land here. “All crops have been harvested,” he said, adding that the Nueva Ecija harvest has been generally good.

The NIA stopped irrigation releases because the harvest season had ended.

“We hope the rains will come soon and fill our dam’s reservoir and the rivers for the wet season cropping,” Salazar said.

The low water level has allowed the remnants of an old church to surface, part of the old Pantabangan town that was submerged to make way for the dam construction in 1971.

But irrigation authorities said Pantabangan’s reservoir level increased from 181.99 masl to 182.01 masl from May 14 to 16 due to intermittent rains in the area.

This week’s reservoir status of Pantabangan Dam showed that there was no reason to panic, said Dr. Renato Arimbuyutan, Nueva Ecija chapter president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“It happens every year. And we have not experienced a really very high temperature in Cabanatuan City compared to previous years,” he said. The highest temperature recorded in Cabanatuan City was 38.8 degrees Celsius at 2:15 p.m. on May 16. The city recorded temperatures of 39 to 40 degrees Celsius in past years.

“What would be cause for alarm is when the rains do not come in June or July, which is the start of the regular cropping season,” Arimbuyutan said.

The weather bureau has alerted the country about the possible onset of the El Niño phenomenon toward the end of 2014.

Many other Luzon dams have recorded sinking levels in their water elevations due to the summer heat. In Isabela province, the summer heat has dried up rivers and could be the reason for the drop to 167.1 masl of the water level at Magat Dam on Saturday, according to Saturnino Tenedor, the dam’s instrumentation and flood forecasting section chief.

Isabela temperatures rose to 39.7 degrees Celsius on Thursday, the highest so far this year. But like in other provinces, most palay and corn farms had been harvested before the summer heat worsened, said Danilo Tumamao, Isabela provincial agriculturist.

The reduced water in Magat Dam has prompted officials to cut the irrigation water to 80,000 ha of rice farms in Isabela, Cagayan, Quirino, and parts of Kalinga and Ifugao.

“We will [resume irrigation supplies] as soon as rice planting starts in June,” said Mariano Dancel, NIA-Magat River Integrated Irrigation System operations manager.

In Pangasinan, officials of San Roque Dam and San Roque Power Corp.  in San Manuel town said they were confident the dam’s water would not reach its critical level this summer despite its continuous drop. With reports from Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Villamor Visaya Jr., Kimberlie Quitasol and Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

RELATED STORIES

Pantabangan Dam far from spilling level, not releasing water—report

Pantabangan power woe continues