MALOLOS, Philippines — Rains brought by Typhoon Falcon and enhanced by the southwest monsoon raised the water level in Angat Dam by almost a meter yesterday.
Records from the Bulacan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office showed that Angat Dam’s water elevation was at 195.88 meters compared to the previous day’s 195.05 meters.
The water level was 15.88 meters above its minimum operating level, but still 16.12 meters short of its normal high water level of 212 meters.
Authorities said the dam needs to reach its normal high water level before the end of the year to provide adequate potable water supply to Metro Manila residents.
Angat Dam provides more than 90 percent of the potable water needs of Metro Manila.
It also provides irrigation to around 25,000 hectares of rice fields in Bulacan and parts of Pampanga.
Meanwhile, Josephine Salazar, National Irrigation Administration regional director for Central Luzon, told The STAR that Ipo and Bustos Dams were still discharging water as of 8 a.m. yesterday.
Ipo Dam was releasing a total of 34.70 cubic meter per second of water while Bustos Dam was discharging 80 cms from its Sluice Gates 1, 2 and 3 that were raised at one meter each, Salazar said.
In a radio interview, Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando blamed the release of water from Bustos Dam for massive flooding in several areas in Bulacan.
He made the statement despite claims by some local officials that the release of water from dams is not to blame for flooding in their areas.
Fernando had pointed to the big volume of water from the San Jose del Monte river system as the culprit for the overflowing of the Bocaue River, which inundated five barangays in Bocaue.
Low-lying areas were inundated with up to seven feet of floodwater following the release of water from Ipo and Bustos Dams.
Up to 172 barangays in 16 towns and three cities in Bulacan remained flooded as of yesterday morning.
A state of calamity was declared in the province under a resolution passed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan during a special session on Monday.