Pantabangan Dam nearing critical level

CABANATUAN CITY, Philippines – Water level at the Pantabangan Dam yesterday fell below 180 meters, nearing the critical level of 171.5 meters, while the low water supply threatens to cut off power generation in the Luzon grid operated by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

Josephine Salazar, operations manager of the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS) that operates Pantabangan Dam, said that as of noon yesterday, water level at the dam was recorded at 179.29 meters, down from 179.52 meters last Tuesday. 

Yesterday’s water elevation was just 7.79 meters higher than the critical level of 171.5 meters and just 2.29 meters above the minimum power generation level of the First Gen Corp., which operates the power plant that provides electricity to NGCP.

The NGCP in turn transmits the electricity to distribution utilities.

Last June 1, the dam’s level was recorded at 182.35 meters. The low water level is expected to affect the cities of Muñoz and San Jose and the towns of Guimba, Licab, Quezon and Talavera in Nueva Ecija and Victoria, Tarlac.       

The dam has an active storage volume of 163.1556 million cubic meters, down from 168.9539 mcm Tuesday. 

Salazar said they expect the water level to go down to 177 meters up to the end of this month. 

“Based on our projection, it will hit 177 meters. But by the first week of July, we will meet the irrigation requirements so we will again close the intake gate,” she said, adding that they see no problem when it comes to irrigation but the problem will affect power generation. Salazar added that they are planning to undertake cloud-seeding operations in the affected areas. 

For over a month, the UPRIIS stopped the supply of water for irrigation of some 100,000 hectares of agricultural lands in Central Luzon and resumed releasing water to its service areas. 

UPRIIS had programmed for irrigation some 114,026 hectares for the twin cropping seasons, up by 2,772 hectares from last year’s 111,254 hectares.

Cristino Castillo, UPRIIS chief of the dam and reservoir division, said that they released water at a rate of 80 cubic meters per second, up from 60 cms at the start of this month at the onset of wet cropping season.

Richard Dipontorum, First Gen plant manager, said their power plant generates 60 megawatts of electricity, half of its maximum power-generating capacity of 120 megawatts. 

Oratio moratorium

Less than a month since the mandatory Oratio imperata or prayers for rain were issued, the Archdiocese of Manila recently ordered all the clergy to stop praying for rain.

In a circular issued last June 11, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle told all the clergy, superiors of religious communities and heads of secular institutes in the archdiocese to stop praying for rain.

Tagle said that he is ordering the lifting of the Oratio imperata for rain because the weather agency has officially declared the start of the rainy season in the country. – With Evelyn Macairan