Finally, Angat water level rises

MALOLOS BULACAN, Phillipines– The rains spawned by Typhoon Ursula in the past three days have raised the water level of Angat Dam by more than a meter.

Records of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management office of Bulacan showed that water elevation at Angat Dam on Tuesday morning was at 198.71 meters. It rose to 198.80 on Wednesday and to 199.72 meters yesterday for a total of 1.01 meters.

The water elevation of the dam as of yesterday morning was 19.72 meters above its minimum operating level of 180 meters, but still 12.28 meters below its ideal 212-meter end-of-year water level.

David Sevillo Jr., executive director of the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), told The STAR that for January, the board approved a 40-cubic meter per second (cms) allocation – from its normal 46 cms water allocation – for the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).

It also allocated 10 cms for the irrigation supply to Bulacan and some parts of Pampanga’s farmlands. The normal allocation to these areas is 30 cms.

The NWRB is closely monitoring the end-of-year elevation of Angat Dam and will modify its water allocations if water elevation improves, Sevillo added.

The water coming from Angat Dam supplies more than 90 percent of Metro Manila’s domestic water use and irrigates more than 17,000 hectares of farmlands in Bulacan and more than 9,000 hectares in Pampanga.

Early this year, the dam’s water level went below its critical level of 160 meters, forcing the NWRB to cut the water allocation for Metro Manila’s domestic use to only 36 cms from its normal 46 cms water allocation.

The cut in water allocation for Metro Manila’s domestic water use forced MWSS’s two water concessionaires to enforce rotational water service interruptions to its customers.

The NWRB also suspended the irrigation allocation for Bulacan and some parts of Pampanga’s farmlands when its water elevation dived down below minimum operation level of 180 meters.