CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) First District Engineering Officer-in-Charge William Bustos has stressed that the clearing of the Pampanga River Delta High Water Channel is essential in keeping floodwaters contained and prevent southern towns from being flooded.
Bustos said that floodwaters from the north need to pass the river channel efficiently and should be freed from obstructions.
The previous width of the channel was 200 meters wide, but was later expanded to 700 meters. The floodway courses all the way towards Masantol town.
Bustos said that fishpens and other illegal structures should and must be removed to ensure the integrity of the water channel.
The demolition is a mandamus from the Supreme Court requiring them to remove and demolish all structures and other nuisances that discharge solid and liquid wastes into the Pampanga River which eventually end up at Manila Bay.
The DPWH is also set at implementing development works in the channel like slop protection works.
The DPWH in the past said that there was a memorandum of agreement between the local government units and the DPWH that prohibits the building of fishponds which have the same height as the Pampanga Delta Dike and the construction of concrete structures along with it.