3 high dams far from spilling level despite heavy rains – NIA
Published Jul 28, 2023 08:18 am
The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said on Friday, July 28, that its three big dams or high dams are still collecting water and far from spilling level, thus, it won’t open its gates any time soon to release water despite the heavy rains brought by Super Typhoon “Egay”.
*Angat Dam (File photo / MANILA BULLETIN)
* As of 6 a.m., the water level at Angat Dam water reached 188.20 meters, Pantabangan Dam was at 185.25 meters, and Magat Dam was at 171.47 meters. However, NIA Administrator Eduardo Guillen reported that he was still “not satisfied” with the current water elevation of the three high dams even though it has been rainy throughout the week as Egay passed. “Hindi pa po tayo kuntento sa laman niya. Malayo pa ang ceiling level pero malakas naman po yung inflow ng tubig. Inaasahan po nating tataas pa (We are not satisfied with the water level yet. The ceiling level is still far away but the inflow of water is strong. We expect it to increase further),” Guillen said. The situations at Ipo Dam and Bustos Dam were different as Guillen said they were forced to release water from these dams due to heavy rain brought by the typhoon. He said Bustos and Ipo are small dams compared to Magat and Angat. “Dito mo makikita ‘yung importansya ng malalaking dams. Kahit malakas ang ulan, hindi po nagkakaroon ng flashflood kasi nga naiipon dito sa ating mga dams. ‘Yung mga dams na maliliit, nagkaron ng pagbaha sa mga areas na ‘yon (Here you can see the importance of big dams. Even if it rains heavily, there is no flashflood because it accumulates here in our dams. Those small dams caused flooding in certain areas),” Guillen added. Guillen also said that there is no need to increase the allocation for the agricultural sector as it is still raining. (Nicole Magmanlac)