Angat Dam (PNA file photo)
CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan – The water elevation of Angat Dam is still below its minimum operating level despite the rains brought by Tropical Storm Florita in the past days.
Record from the Provincial Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office of Bulacan as of 8 a.m. Thursday showed that the water level of Angat Dam is 177.87 meters, which is still 2.13 meters below its minimum operating level or critical level of 180 meters and 34.13 meters below the normal high water level of 212 meters.
Robert dela Cruz, provincial manager of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) in Bulacan, said in a phone interview on Thursday the dam did not release irrigation allocation for rice lands in Bulacan and parts of Pampanga on Wednesday.
Angat Dam is the main source of irrigation water for Bulacan and parts of Pampanga's irrigated rice lands that is being coursed through Bustos Dam for distribution.
It also supplies more than 90 percent of Metro Manila's potable water needs.
Dela Cruz, meanwhile, said the water elevation of Bustos Dam is on its spilling level of 17.36 meters as of Thursday, forcing it to raise its Sluice Gate No. 2 by half a meter and release 13 cubic meters per second of water on its downstream river system. (PNA)
