Angat Dam water level declines

ANGAT Dam’s water level is inching towards below critical level as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (Pagasa) monitoring as of Tuesday morning showed that the water level had gone down to 160.58 meters, which was 0.43 meters lower than last Monday’s 161.01 meters.

Water experts are saying that the dam may go lower of its 160-meter critical level for domestic water supply.

The National Water Resources Board (NWRB) would still retain the 36 cubic meters per second (CMS) allocation for domestic supply in Metro Manila as the current increase is not yet substantial to warrant a return to normal allocation levels.

The bulk of Metro Manila’s daily requirement, or 90 percent, comes from Angat Dam. The Department of Agriculture said that the domestic purpose of Angat Dam’s water would surely compete with the dam’s water if it does not reach full capacity.

Angat Dam reached its lowest level of 157.76 meters in July 2010, an El Niño year, which prompted authorities to temporarily stop operations.

While the current level may be a welcome development, it is still below the normal level of 180 meters.

The farmers who planted this current cropping season would also need to look for other sources of water, as supply for water irrigation would only be resumed when the 180-meter level is reached.

Angat Dam supplies 90 percent of the domestic water supply of Metro Manila. It also supplies irrigation to 20,000 hectares of farmland in Bulacan, 2,000 hectares of Pampanga’s farmlands in Candaba, and border lands of San Luis and Santa Ana.

Pagasa is expecting water inside the dam to be replenished with expected rains this July. However, the El Niño weather phenomenon is likely to last up to November this year, according to Pagasa.

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