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Saturday, September 04, 2004
Napocor urged: Study San Roque dam release
By Fred P. Macaraeg
DAGUPAN CITY -- Controllers of the San Roque multipurpose hydroelectric dam's spillway have been urged to restudy the schedule of water releases from the reservoir.
Prof. Nicanor Melecio, environmental researcher, made the call as he said there is a possibility that the water releases from the dam have been aggravating the flooding in Pangasinan through the Agno River.
"The multipartite fact-finding team has a tentative finding (on this) but that needs further validation," he said.
He said in order to have a final conclusion there are certain questions that need to be answered.
Firstly, should the critical level of water impounded at the dam's reservoir be at 280 meters above sea level?
"Based on our researches, what is used as baseline data are of those when the dam was still being designed," he said.
Citing major weather shifts experienced in the country, Melecio said the rainfall pattern has suddenly risen as evidenced by the torrential rains that occurred just recently.
He said if the rule curve being implemented at the San Roque dam in setting the critical level is based on the usual baseline, it could be that this is old forecasting.
"What could be done is to update the old baseline based on the recent climate change. On that basis, we will simulate it, using current available technology, and we will reset the current critical level. We could recommend lower than the 280-meter critical level," he said.
Melecio said flooding in the province were caused by the heavy rains and tides.
When it is high tide, tidal water will enter the mouth of rivers in Pangasinan and its intrusion reaches to about 12 kilometers.
In Dagupan, the tidal water will reach Calasiao, way past the joint of Pantal and Ingalera rivers.
The environmental researcher said the second issue is that assuming that the San Roque dam had been discharging water, is the receiving body or channel enough to contain the volume of water that is being released?
He said the channel was first termed as re-regulating pond, measuring more or less 72 hectares.
He clarified, however, that the entity managing the spillway is not the San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) but the National Power Corporation (Napocor).
The SRPC's function is to generate electric power while Napocor, through the National Transmission Commission (Transco), handles the opening and closing of the spillway.
(September 4, 2004 issue)
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