PAGASA urges people to conserve water, even with overflowing Angat Dam
MANILA, Philippines — The overflowing Angat Dam in Bulacan should ensure that Metro Manila and nearby provinces will have enough water supply in the coming summer months while a strong El Niño persists, according to the Philippine Atmostpheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
But the weather bureau’s hydrometeorological division advised Metro Manila to continue to conserve water.
As Metro Manila’s main reservoir, authorities have been releasing water from Angat Dam since Thursday, which consequently caused massive flooding in Bulacan.
Flood warning has been raised over Norzagaray, Angat, San Rafael, Bustos, Baliuag, Pulilan, Plaridel, Calumpit and Hagonoy municipalities.
After months under a dry spell, Angat Dam quickly rose above the spilling level of 212 meters above sea level (masl) from rains dumped by Typhoon Nona last week and the northeast monsoon rains that continued over the weekend.
The dam has been releasing water from three gates, but as of Monday 2 p.m., the level stood at 215.74 masl, only .1 m down from its 215.82 masl elevation eight hours earlier in the day.
“Based on our record, this (supply) level is enough to last up to summer. But it depends on usage. If it’s normal usage, it will last. We still need to conserve and not waste water,” said hydrologist Danny Flores of the PAGASA.
Flores said Angat Dam would continue to release water, and flood surrounding towns, until the water inflow into the dam has slowed down and no more rains fall into the watershed.
“Once the inflow has stabilized and there are no more rains coming, then the gates can be closed,” he said.
He, however, said they could not say when the dam could safely stop releasing water, saying a cloud formation has been monitored heading towards the Angat Dam watershed.
He said they would not bring the level down to 212 masl to have some buffer and to ease the flooding.
Authorities again released water from Magat Dam in Ramon, Isabela on Monday, opening two gates as the dam rose above the 193 masl spilling level.
The dam stood at 193.2 masl as of early Monday.
In its latest bulletin, PAGASA has said the ongoing strong El Niño episode will peak around November 2015 to January 2016 and may gradually weaken starting February 2016.
This El Niño episode, which is believed to be one of the strongest on record, will continue through the summer months until May, when it will begin to transition to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-neutral condition from May to July 2016.
PAGASA said that last November, most parts of the country experienced way below to below-normal rainfall condition, with Mindanao provinces spared from dry spell.
Before Typhoon Nona and Tropical Depression Onyok hit the country this month, PAGASA said seven provinces such as Quezon, Albay, Camarines Norte, Antique, Northern Samar, Samar and North Cotabato were suffering from drought while 38 other provinces were experiencing dry spell.
But after the back-to-back cyclones, the weather bureau said it has started reassessing rainfall conditions.
Meanwhile, surface air temperatures this month will continue to be “slightly warmer than normal” in most of the country despite the northeast monsoon that usually brings in chilly weather.
The world is experiencing record high temperatures attributed to global warming, making this year the hottest on record. SFM
