Water level at Angat Dam breaches critical mark

CITY OF MALOLOS — The water level in Angat Dam on Sunday dropped to 179.93 meters above sea level (masl), breaching its 180-meter minimum requirement, officials said on Sunday.

But Felix Robles, Water Control chief of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in Bulacan, said the water in Angat Dam can still meet the irrigation requirement for rice crops in Bulacan and Pampanga, and domestic needs of Metro Manila

Robles said starting May 1, the irrigation supply to 17 towns in Bulacan and 4 towns in Pampanga will be reduced to 20 cubic meter per second (cms).

The National Water Resources Board (NWRB) regulatory allots 36 to 40 cms of irrigation supply to more than 27,000 hectares of rice farms in the two provinces, but the supply has started to diminish following the depleting water level in Angat Dam.

The 20 cms will last until May 20 and starting May 16, NIA is no longer allowed by NWRB to release water for irrigation.

But Robles said so far, the 20 cms are enough to supply the irrigation need of some 20,000 farmers in Bulacan and Pampanga.

He said by that time, the farmers have already harvested their crops and would no longer need the irrigation supply from NIA.

“Even below 180 masl, Metro Manila will still have water,” Robles told the Inquirer on Sunday. /je