San Roque Dam to let off water as rains pound Cordillera

San Roque Dam. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines –The San Roque Dam in San Manuel town in Pangasinan province will start spilling more water to the Agno River on Saturday noon, an official of the San Roque Power Corp. (SRPC) said.

Tom Valdez, SRPC vice president for corporate social responsibility,said two spillway gates of the dam will be opened at a height of half meter each because of the rapid increase of the dam’s water level since Friday.

At 6 a.m. Saturday, the dam’s water level was recorded at 277.56 maters above sea level (masl), which is only 2.44 meters below its maximum level of 280 masl.

The dam’s water level increased by 9.05 meters from its elevation of 268.51 masl at 6 a.m. on Friday.

Valdez said there had been a high inflow of water from the upstream of the Agno River because of the continuous rains and the opening of spillway gates of the Ambuklao and Binga dams in Benguet province on Friday.

Typhoon “Ineng,” which still hovers in extreme northern Luzon, had been dumping heavy rains since Thursday.

He said Binga had opened its gates at a height of 10 meters. Water from Binga flows into the San Roque Dam.

The SRPC, which generates power only during peak hours, shifted into “must-run” status at 9 a.m. Friday, producing 411 megawatts of electricity and releasing water at 263 cubic meters per second.

Avenix Arenas, spokesperson of the Pangasinan disaster risk reduction and management office, had alerted officials and residents in 19 towns traversed by the Agno River to take the necessary precaution.