UPRIIS tillers benefiting from Casecnan project

Farmer-irrigators of the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (UPRIIS) are now reaping the initial benefits of the Casecnan project, the National Irrigation Administration’s project office in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija said.

The NIA office said the entire rice industry and farmers in the new 37,000-hectare service area in the northern municipalities of Nueva Ecija will eventually benefit fully once the irrigation canals and the structures are completed in 2006 for Phase I, and in 2008 for Phase II.

The Casecnan multipurpose project, which became operational last December, was instrumental in irrigating ricelands in Nueva Ecija.

Based on records of the NIA Casecnan office, the project has delivered 112.7 million cubic meters of water to the Pantabangan reservoir from December 2001 to April this year, contributing significantly to the irrigation of crops in the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System.

Without the Casecnan, about 11,000 hectares would have been "critically stressed," the NIA project office said.

The Casecnan multipurpose irrigation project diverts water from the Casecnan and Taan rivers in Nueva Vizcaya to the Pantabangan reservoir for use in irrigation and to generate electricity.

The NIA said the prolonged dry season from January to June this year may affect the annual expected delivery of water.

It, however, noted that water discharges from the Casecnan and Taan rivers improved considerably beginning July. It added that the minimal rainfall in the early part of the year was considered exceptional and is not considered a pattern.

In recent Senate hearings, David Baldwin, president of the project’s build-operate-transfer operator, CE Casecnan, refuted allegations that the project’s hydrology assumptions were flawed.

Baldwin told the Senate that the hydrology model for Casecnan was based on a 30-year period, and the expected annual delivery of 802 million cubic meters per year was the most conservative estimate.

He, however, clarified that the volume of water Casecnan would deliver, would naturally be low during the summer months and would increase over the rainy season.

Belying suggestions that the Casecnan is unnecessary during the wet season, Baldwin clarified that the Pantabangan Dam has always been underutilized – in fact, it has only reached maximum elevation once in its almost 30 years of existence.

He said the Casecnan project is still required to enable Pantabangan Dam to attain full utilization.

In the same Senate hearings, former NIA Administrator Apolonio Bautista said that using the water delivery records from January to June to make a conclusion on Casecnan’s capacity to deliver the expected volume of water was "like judging a basketball game in the first half."

The NIA admitted that there is a need for the continued protection and rehabilitation of the Casecnan watershed to ensure the delivery of water in the long term.

As of now, the government has no major program to protect this watershed that is vital in ensuring the continued growth of agriculture in Nueva Ecija.