Farmers to get less irrigation water from dam

PHOTO taken in August of the San Roque Dam in Pangasinan. WILLIE LOMIBAO/CONTRIBUTOR

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Farmers in eastern and central Pangasinan are beginning to feel the impact of the El Niño phenomenon as San Roque Dam officials announced a reduction in the amount of irrigation water for farms there.

“The water level at San Roque Dam as of Tuesday was only a little more than 271 meters above sea level (masl). In the past years, during this month, the dam’s water elevation was 280 masl or more,” said Oftociano Manalo, head of the Pangasinan Federation of Irrigators’ Association.

San Roque Dam irrigates 12,000 hectares of rice land in 18 eastern and central Pangasinan towns. The province has more than 70,000 ha of irrigated rice land, which is more than half of its total rice production area of 130,000 ha.

Manalo said that during a recent meeting with dam officials, National Power Corp. (Napocor) and National Irrigation Administration representatives, his group was told that the dam would stop releasing water for irrigation in April 2013.

“The rainy season stopped early, that’s why we can now feel the impact of El Niño,” Manalo said.

The El Niño phenomenon is the abnormal warming of waters in the Pacific characterized by a dry spell.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) earlier predicted that El Niño would descend on the country toward the end of this year.

Virgilio Garcia, Napocor principal hydrologist and in charge of the Agno Flood Forecasting and Warning System, said San Roque Dam has to conserve water because the expected water inflow did not come.

“Water came early in August and the dam’s elevation even went beyond the normal high elevation of 280 masl,” Garcia said.

But this water reserve, he said, was used for power generation.

Nestor Batalla, rice program coordinator of the Pangasinan government, said in anticipation of the El Niño, the provincial government distributed water pumps to farmers in the province.

Manalo said he had also advised fellow farmers whose farms would not be irrigated this year to plant crops that do not require much water, such as corn and tobacco. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon