CITY OF MALOLOS—With one meter drop in every two days, Angat dam elevation dipped to 10 meters in two months, but volume remains sufficient for farmer’s irrigation needs, officials said.
On Saturday, Angat Dam was at 204.50 meters above sea level (masl) elevation from 214. 18 masl on Feb. 27, according to the data of the Bulacan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO).
On Friday, it recorded 204. 79 masl elevation.
Manuel Lukban Jr., head of the PDRRMO said the absence of rains in the Sierra Madre mountains to fill in the daily release for water supply to Metro Manila caused the volume to continuously decrease.
He told NEWSCORE Bulacan that the daily high heat index also caused the water elevation to dip.
Angat dam provides the 97% water requirement of Metro Manila.
Carlos Dimaapi, president of Angat Maasim River Irrigators Association (AMRIS), a group of more than 22,000 farmers irrigating more than 27,000 hectares of rice fields in 17 towns in Bulacan and 4 towns in Pampanga, however said on Friday that the present more than 204.00 masl volume of water in Angat dam ensures a sufficient supply of water for irrigation for the current second dry cropping season.
He said the reservoir still has sufficient volume and that irrigation canals continue to be filled in. “Even the south main canals have up to 3/4th volume of water, which is a strong indication that supply for irrigation is ample,” he said.
Farmers in the north bay canal of AMRIS which include the towns of Apalit, Candaba, San Simon and San Luis in Pampanga and Calumpit, Pulilan, Baliwag, Bustos, Dona Remedios Trinidad, (DRT); San Miguel and San Rafael have started planting palays this month for the April-June second dry cropping season because of sufficient water supply.
The first dry cropping season was December-March. Farmers have already made harvests for that cropping season.
Dimaapi, who is also the vice president of the Regional Confederation of iIrrigators Association (RCIA), said farmers receive a regular 15-30 cubic meter per second (cms) volume of water for irrigation supply during the first and second dry cropping season. He said they do not have concerns for the July-November wet cropping because rains are expected in May, June and July.
On Thursday, Angat dam was at 205.31 masl. It was at 206.29 on April 19; 207. 80 on April 13; 208. 63 on April 9; 209.90 on April 3; 210. 13 on April 2; 211.96 on March 22; 212. 88 on March 16 and 213.85 on March 1.
On February 13-15, Ipo dam discharged 212 cms volume of water after its volume peaks near its 101.00 meters spilling level as Angat dam has reached 213. 78-213.98 masl or already near 214.00 masl maximum high water elevation. Angat dam’s normal high water level is at 212. masl. Bustom dam with 17.35 meters spilling level also released waters.
