MANILA, Philippines — Major dams in Luzon topped their spilling level due to heavy rains spawned by Typhoon Ulysses yesterday, swelling rivers in Metro Manila and Central Luzon.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) warned of floodings in low-lying areas as Ulysses continued to dump rains.
The La Mesa Dam in Quezon City, which is used as a reserve water storage for emergencies, breached its spilling level of 80.15 meters at 9:20 a.m. yesterday.
PAGASA and east zone concessionaire Manila Water advised residents along Tullahan River particularly in Fairview, Forest Hills Subdivision, Quirino Highway, Sta. Quiteria and San Bartolome and parts of nearby Valenzuela and Malabon to evacuate.
Water level in Angat Dam, the main source of supply in Metro Manila, hit 211.30 meters, breaching its 210-meter spilling level.
The National Power Corp. said the dam opened its spillway gates with an initial gate opening of .5 meter to slowly return it to safe levels.
The Ipo Dam also surpassed its spilling level of 101 meters after reaching 101.2 meters yesterday morning.
The water level in Pantabangan Dam rose to 198.96 as of yesterday.
Officials of the National Irrigation Administration-Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (NIA-UPRIIS) said from 198.30 meters on Wednesday, the water level increased to 198.96 meters due to continuous rains brought by Ulysses and other previous storms.
The current water level is 22.04 meters short of the dam’s spilling level of 221 meters.
It recorded an average inflow of 318 centimeters per second with rainfall of 70.1 millimeters, according to Rosalinda Bote, NIA-UPRIIS department manager.
Pantabangan Dam’s gate remained closed.
As the Luzon dams released excess water, the operations of concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad Water Services Inc. were also affected, forcing them to implement service interruptions.
Manila Water said its Siruna Pumping Station in Antipolo City was unable to refill its reservoirs to desired levels due to power fluctuations.
To preserve its remaining water, it implemented water interruption until further notice in upper areas of Antipolo, Teresa and Barangay San Guillermo in Morong, all in Rizal.
Manila Water’s Brookside Pumping Station was temporarily disabled due to the high level of flood water in the facility. Affected areas are Taytay and Cainta.
There is no estimated time yet of water service resumption. The facility will resume operations once the water subsides.
As for Maynilad, heavy rainfall over the Ipo watershed increased turbidity in the raw water of the Ipo Dam.
Turbidity level refers to the sediment content in the dam’s water. Due to continuous rains, turbidity level increased as soil eroded from the Ipo watershed area into the dam.
This constrained Maynilad to reduce water production in its treatment plants, resulting in low water pressure to no water in some portions of Caloocan and Quezon City. – Ric Sapnu