THE water level in the Bago River Dam located in Barangay Cansilayan, Murcia town, which supplies water to the Bago River Irrigation System (BRIS), is still below the normal dam crest elevation of 52 meters due to the dry spell.
Engr. Lorena Sioco, head of the Irrigation Management Office of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA)-Negros Occidental based in Bago City, told Sun.Star Bacolod that as of Monday, January 24, the water level was at 51.60 meters, 40 centimeters below normal.
Monday's level, however, was notably higher than the previous reading of 51.05 meters on Friday, January 22, which was the lowest since the start of the dry spell.
The rise in level, Sioco said, can be attributed to the rain brought in by the northeast monsoon on Monday, which fell mainly over the Northern Negros Natural Park (NNNP) watershed.
“The watershed at the NNNP is the main source of the Bago River Dam,” Sioco said, adding that rains, even scattered, would result to an increase in the water level.
NIA-Negros Occidental records show that on January 9 and 10, the water level at the Bago River Dam was at 51.8 meters. It continued to drop on January 11, at 51.7 meters; and on January 12 and 13, 51.6 meters.
The biggest drop of 95 centimeters below normal was recorded on January 22, at 51.05.
The BRIS, which covers 456,000 hectares in the northern portion of the province and 2,944 hectares in the south, is implementing a rotational scheme wherein areas in both portions will have water every other week.
“The current water level is not yet critical since the drop is still within the one meter elevation with existing rotational distribution,” Sioco said, noting that if the reduction exceeds 1.5 meters, the most affected areas are those in the south, which only have communal irrigation sites as backup.
Damage to crops
Meanwhile, rice, corn and high value commercial crop (HVCC) damage and production losses caused by the continuous dry spell have been valued at P52.39 million, based on the latest report released by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) on Monday.
The losses cover 1,630.68 hectares of palay, HVCC, and corn. Affected farmers totaled 1,647 from 57 barangays in 10 local government units (LGUs), including Pontevedra, La Carlota City, San Enrique, Bago City, Hinigaran, Moises Padilla, Binalbagan, Hinoba-an, Sipalay City and Cauayan.
The last OPA report showed that 629 affected farmers filed their notices of loss with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. to avail of indemnity claims.
Provincial Senior Agriculturist Dina Genzola said only LGUs from the south portion of the province were subjected to assessment and validation.
OPA has yet to start its consolidation of damage in the north. The value of losses is expected to rise with the addition of the northern assessment, she said.
With the rainfall on Monday, Genzola said that her office is also checking on the rainwater penetration level in some areas in the province.
Weather monitoring of the Provincial Disaster Management Program Division showed that the northeast monsoon brought two millimeters of rainfall in the cities of Sagay, Victorias and Cadiz; 0.2 to 1.1 mm in Manapla; and 0.1 mm, in Bacolod City.