NWRB: No water supply cut for Metro Manila

MALOLOS, Philippines — The National Water Resources Board (NWRB) is not reducing the allocation from Angat Dam for Metro Manila residents this month.

Sevillo David Jr., NWRB executive director, said there is no change in the allocation for Metro Manila’s water needs at 48 cubic meters per second (cms).

Irrigation allocation, on the other hand, was reduced to five cms since many farms are either in their terminal drainage situation, meaning there is less water requirement.

The irrigation allocation for rice fields at the start of the cropping season was at 28 cms for the north zone or the north portion of Bulacan and parts of Pampanga and 12 cms for the south zone in the Bulacan service area.

Robert de la Cruz, National Irrigation Administration manager for Bulacan, said the current supply to the north zone is eight cms and six cms for the south zone.

The Bulacan provincial disaster risk reduction and management office said water elevation in Angat Dam was at 190.72 meters yesterday morning.

The water level in Bustos Dam, which regulates irrigation supply to farms in Bulacan and parts of Pampanga, was at 16.74 meters.

The water elevation in Angat Dam yesterday was only 10.72 meters above its minimum operating level.

Bustos Dam’s water level was 0.26 meters below its spilling level.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration confirmed that cloud-seeding operations are being conducted over the Angat watershed to raise the water level in the dam.