UPRIIS cuts off water from Pantabangan to rehabilitate two smaller dams

CABANATUAN CITY — The National Irrigation Administration’s (NIA) Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems (UPRIIS) shut down the intake gates at the reservoir of the Pantabangan Dam last Sunday, cutting off water from the dam to pave the way for the rehabilitation of two smaller dams.

Engineer Antonio Nangel, UPRIIS operations manager, said the water cut-off would enable them to undertake the rehabilitation of the Pampanga Bongabon River Irrigation System (PBRIS) and the Peñaranda River Irrigation Systems (Penris).

The water cut-off will last for two months.

Nangel said the rehab of the two dams forms part of the project of the NIA-Casecnan, which handles the irrigation component of the Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project (CMIPP) or the Casecnan Dam.

The dam diverts water from the Casecnan and Taang rivers in Nueva Vizcaya to Pantabangan Dam by way of a 26-kilometer underground tunnel.

Pantabangan Dam has irrigated some 80,000 hectares of agricultural lands in the region during the last cropping season. It could irrigate a maximum 102,000 hectares.

Nangel said that once the irrigation component projects of the NIA-Casecnan are put into place, Pantabangan Dam’s irrigable area could increase by 40,000 hectares, benefiting 10,000 more farmers.

The rehab works would affect some 5,000 farmers in two cities and nine municipalities in Central Luzon. These are in San Isidro, Cabiao, San Leonardo, Jaen, Sta. Rosa and the cities of Cabanatuan and Gapan, all in Nueva Ecija; Arayat and Candaba in Pampanga and San Ildefonso in Bulacan.

Nangel said the rehab works also include the 18.6-kilometer PBRIS main canal. The two-month water cut-off would, however, have minimal effect on the farmers since this is done in between two croppings.

Engineer Carlito Gapasin, manager of the UPRIIS’ operations and institutional division, said the longer water cut-off would start in December and will last until May next year when construction of the by-pass canals go full blast. This is estimated to cost farmers P380 million in potential income because there would no longer be any "dayatan" or dry cropping season.

The area where the two dams will be rehabilitated span 7,580 hectares, produces an average of 38,000 metric tons or 760,000 cavans of palay.