Angat dam water level monitored

The Manila Times
April 10, 2014 8:31 pm

MALOLOS CITY: Disaster control officials in Bulacan are closely monitoring Angat dam’s water level, which may reach critical level due to the extreme hot weather.
Raul Agustin, a senior officer at the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), said that while Angat dam has enough water supply that could last for at least a month, Metro Manila residents are advised to conserve water and brace for the onslaught of summer.
Agustin said the present water level at the dam’s reservoir was recorded at 188.9 meters as of 8 a.m. on Thursday. The critical level is 180 meters.
He said that the dam has still enough supply of water that could last for three to four weeks before it reach the critical level of 180 meters.
“It has been a long time that there is no rains in that watershed area. If the situation continues, there is a possibility that the level of water will go down until the middle of May,” he said.
Agustin said that the best way to brace for the onslaught of the draught season is to conserve water.
“The summer season is long. Thus, there is a need to conserve water,” he said.
Agustin said if the water level nears the critical level, cloud-seeding could be done at the watershed area of Angat dam.
“But the problem with cloud seeding is that it does not exactly hit the reservoir because most of the time, the clouds are being drifted away by winds and the rains fell somewhere else and not in the dam,” he pointed out.
Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado has instructed the PDRRMO to closely monitor the water elevation of the dam and also urged residents to conserve water.
Last week, officials of Angat dam also urged residents of Metro Manila to conserve water because the water reserve of the dam is fast drying up.
Angat River Hydro Electric Power Plant (ARHEPP) officials said they are decreasing the supply of water to Metro Manila as the dam’s reservoir is nearing the critical level of 180 meters.
The ARHEPP said that based on records, the water supply at the dam is now 17 meters lower compared to that last year.
ARHEPP officials said that since January this year, supply to Metro Manila has been reduced from cubic meters per second to 43 cubic meters per second and this April, it will be lowered to 41 cubic meters per second.
ARHEPP officials added that the water reserve at the dam this year only reached 211 meters, a meter short of the 212 meters or more than they expected.
ARHEPP also said that the extreme hot weather is fast drying-up the water reserve.
Based on ARHEPP data, the lowest water level at Angat dam reservoir was recorded at 157.57 meters on June 2010. source
PNA