A rice farm in Nueva Ecija. (Photo by Marilyn Galang)
CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija - The National Irrigation Administration-Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (NIA-UPRIIS) on Wednesday stopped the release of water from the mammoth Pantabangan Dam due to rains brought by Tropical Storm Falcon to boost its reserve for ongoing rice planting activities.
Engineer Rose Bote, department manager of NIA-UPRIIS, said cutting off the release for irrigation would be an opportunity to boost the dam's reserve.
Bote said Pantabangan Dam's water level was at 188 meters above sea level (masl) as of 7:45 a.m. Wednesday. The dam's spilling level is 221 masl.
Bote said they released water at 114 cubic meters per second until Tuesday to sustain the need of rice farmers who are currently planting.
"Kapag umuulan ay inihihinto natin ang release ng tubig para makapag-reserve pa (When it is raining, we stop the releasing of water so that we can reserve)," she said.
Bote said farmers in three divisions of UPRIIS earlier received some 30,000 bags of subsidized rice seeds from the Department of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, several local government units in this province including this city, San Jose City, and the towns of Santa Rosa, Cuyapo and Rizal, suspended classes in pre-elementary to high school levels in both public and private schools due to the onslaught of Tropical Storm Falcon. (PNA)
