Angat Dam breaches critical level

PARCHED LAND With fields cracked and water sources diminishing, farmers in Barangay Tabon Tabon in Daraga, Albay province, are now
experiencing the effects of the dry spell. MARC ALVIC ESPLANA/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

WATER SUPPLY from the Angat Dam for irrigation in Bulacan and Pampanga provinces will be cut off as the facility breached the critical level on Tuesday.

The dam’s water level has been falling for the past several weeks as the dry spell continues throughout the country.

On early Tuesday, the level fell below the critical level of 180 meters above sea level to 179.88 masl, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

The Angat Dam in Bulacan supplies 97 percent of Metro Manila’s domestic water needs and provides irrigation to 27,000 hectares of agricultural land in Bulacan and Pampanga.

Under the protocol, irrigation supply is cut off when the water level in the dam falls below 180 masl.

But Metro Manila will continue to draw from the dam unless the level further falls to 160 masl when water release will be limited.

The normal operating level of the Angat Dam is 212 masl.

Pagasa hydrologist Edgar de la Cruz said that at the rate the dam’s water level had been falling, by about 0.3 meters every day, the reading would be 172 to 173 masl by the middle of June. By that time, the rainy season will start, it said.

All the other major dams are below their normal operating levels but are not yet at their critical level, according to De la Cruz.