As dam opens, water for farms found not enough

SCIENCE CITY OF MUNOZ—Irrigation water began flowing from the gates of Pantabangan Dam last week for the start of the dry season cropping. But supply, according to many farmers in Nueva Ecija province, is not enough.

Officials of the National Irrigation Authority’s (NIA) Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS) ordered the water release starting on Friday, three days before the scheduled official release, despite the reservoir’s failure to reach its rule curve (desired level) to service the land area cultivated during the “palagad,” or dry season cropping.

Only 69 percent of the area can be irrigated this season, said Wilfredo Ramos, UPRIIS District I operations chief.

Ramos said that in his area, covering two cities and four towns, a total of 3,682 hectares were determined to be unserviceable by irrigation water from the dam this season. His area covers 18,601 ha in the cities of San Jose and MuÒoz and the towns of Talavera, Quezon, Sto. Domingo and Licab.

Irrigation summit

Ramos said officials of UPRIIS agreed that if the rule curve of 212.15 meters at Pantabangan Dam was not reached, the target service area in the province would be reduced. The water level at the Pantabangan Dam reservoir on Friday was 204.50 m.

In the irrigation water summit called by Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali in October, Reynaldo Puno, UPRIIS operations manager, said only 80,842 ha out of the irrigable area of 114,490 ha in the province could be programmed for irrigation this cropping season.

Provincial and irrigation officials said the long dry spell had reduced the inflow of water in the Pantabangan reservoir.

They hoped that rain from Typhoon “Ruby” could augment the water level in the dam’s reservoir, but that did not happen as the typhoon skirted the province.

Serafin Santos, provincial agriculturist, urged farmers to consider planting alternate crops, like corn and root crops, which do not need much water.

In Talavera town, farmers started putting up sandbags along a 400-m portion of Lower Talavera River Irrigation System (LTRIS) that was destroyed by Typhoons “Luis” and “Mario” earlier this year.

NIA failure

The NIA has failed to rehabilitate the dam, which also serves as a conduit of water from Pantabangan Dam to 2,291 ha of farmlands in 12 villages in Talavera and five villages in the nearby town of General Llanera.

Danilo Miranda, president of LTRIS Federation of Irrigators Associations, said they would not allow water wastage this time, when the NIA-UPRIIS had trimmed down the scope of its service area.

Mayor Nerivi Santos-Martinez said farmers volunteered for the sandbagging activity while the town government lent heavy equipment to clear waterways.

In Guimba town, more than 2,000 farmers who till 3,574 ha in northern Nueva Ecija have also appealed to the NIA-UPRIIS to include them in the irrigation program area this cropping season.