Bulacan to cushion impact of Angat Dam water shortage

MALOLOS, Bulacan – Gov. Josefina dela Cruz has ordered the provincial agriculture office to come up with measures that would cushion the effect of the current water shortage at the Angat Dam on farmlands in the province to prevent a shortage in palay production.

Dela Cruz said that she has already asked concerned government agencies to look into possible measures to lessen the effect of the water shortage at the Angat Dam in Norzagaray town here, which, aside from being a major source of irrigation water for farmlands, is also the main source of drinking water for Metro Manila residents and used by the National Power Corp. to generate electricity at the hydroelectric power plant.

Dela Cruz said that among the measures being considered by the provincial government are the use of shallow tube wells and deep-well pumps in the areas which are in danger of facing a shortage of irrigation water.

National Irrigation Administration (NIA) chief Emmanuel Paras said in an interview over radio station dzMM that an estimated 25,000 hectares of rice lands in the province would be affected if the water level at the Angat Dam continues to recede.

The Philippine Air Force has already started cloud seeding to make up for the lack of rainfall, which was viewed as the main reason for the water shortage at the Angat Dam.

Disaster authorities said that the water level at the dam has dropped by more than one meter in the last five days starting last Jan. 12 from 200.98 to 199.92 meters.

But Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) administrator Roberto Hondrade said that the water shortage is only minimal because the Angat-Umiray Transbasin project in the provinces of Bulacan and Quezon will be able to provide 12 million liters a day. He also allayed fears of another drought due to the shortage. He said that the public need not panic because the current shortage is not that extensive. — With Ric Sapnu