NIA execs order water release as Isabela’s Magat Dam nears spill level
CITY OF CAUAYAN – The Magat Dam in Ramon town in Isabela province has started releasing water as the reservoir level approached spilling level due to heavy rain in the facility’s watershed area in the past days.
Wilfredo Gloria, operations manager of the National Irrigation Administration-Magat River Integrated Irrigation System, said the reservoir level reached 192.52 meters above sea level (masl), slightly below the 193 masl spilling level.
Gloria said dam officials opened one spillway gate, at a height of a meter, on Sunday when water level reached 192.59 masl.
He said water inflow on Tuesday was minimal at 218 cubic meters per second while outflow was at 218 cubic meters per second.
He said 18 millimeters of rainfall had been recorded in the Magat watershed.
No rain, however, had been reported in the Banaue, Dupax, Hingyon, Santo Domingo, Dantor and Dumayup watersheds that feed the Magat reservoir, Gloria said.
