Drought prompts Cebu City council to declare calamity

A FARMER walks on what used to be his rice farm in Talisay City, one of the areas in Cebu province hardest hit by the ongoing dry spell. TONEE DESPOJO/CEBU DAILY NEWS

CEBU CITY—The Cebu City council declared a state of calamity on Wednesday after the prolonged drought destroyed P13.4 million worth of crops and is now threatening to cut the city’s water supply.

The move was recommended by Councilor Dave Tumulak who heads the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

Tumulak said officials are expecting the amount of damage in the city to get bigger.

According to a report by Joelito Baclayon, city agriculturist, the drought has destroyed or damaged at least P13.4 million in crops planted in 87.4 hectares of farms in the city’s mountain villages.

“This is just a partial report,” said Baclayon.

While rains fell on Tuesday and Wednesday, these were insufficient to bring relief to drought-hit areas.

The supply of water in the city’s 80 villages is threatened, too.

Free water distribution

Some suppliers, like Pilipinas Water Resources Inc. (PWRI), promised to distribute water for free to residents in drought-hit areas.

The drought is also making its presence felt in other parts of the country.

In the City of Malolos, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) withdrew plans to cut water being released to farms by the Angat Dam on April 15 and would instead reduce irrigation supply to make it last until May 15, amid the dry spell.

Gloria Carillo, Bulacan agriculture officer, said NIA’s new plan would help 30,000 farmers in 17 towns in Bulacan and Pampanga provinces.

Carillo said farmers would need an amount of water just enough for palay that are nearing maturity.

Water supply for crops is channeled through the Angat-Maasim River Irrigation System (Amris), which uses Angat Dam as its reservoir.

Angat Dam also supplies 97 percent of the domestic water needs of Metro Manila and powers the Angat hydroelectric power plant.

El Niño protocols for Angat require irrigation to be shut down in cases where the reservoir levels are low to keep water flowing to Metro Manila’s taps.

On Tuesday, Angat Dam levels were recorded at 196.71 meters above sea level (masl), lower than its normal level of 212 masl.

Bustos Dam repair

Ildefonso Canquin, president of Bulakan town municipal agriculture and fishery council (MAFC), said farmers in his area have been receiving 15 cubic meters per second (cms) of water allocation from NIA.

Irrigation is expected to improve with the repair of the old Bustos Dam beginning on April 15. The facility, which is also known as Angat Afterbay Regulator Dam, had failed to hold more water discharged by the Angat and Ipo dams.