Water level of Luzon dams still on a downside — PAGASA

The water level of Luzon dams continued to exhibit a downward trend as El Niño continued to make its presence felt, according to PAGASA on Wednesday.

The latest monitoring of the water state bureau showed that the reservoir water level, or RWL, of Angat Dam, which supplies potable water to the majority of Metro Manila areas and nearby provinces, incurred the biggest 24-hour water level deviation of -0.31.

It now dips at 202.47 meters, less than the 202.78 m RWL recorded the previous day at the same time. Its present RWL is -9.53 meters below its normal high water level, or NHWL, of 212.00 meters.

Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija, on the other hand, exhibited a -0.29 WL reduction from its 182.09 m RWL on Tuesday to the current 181.80 m RWL.

Meanwhile, the San Roque Dam in Pangasinan fell to 238.26 m RWL from its previous 238.53 m RWL, indicating a -0.27 24-hour WL deviation.

The Caliraya Dam in Laguna Province also had a -0.15 reduction over a day, from its previous 286.82 m RWL to now 286.67 m RWL.

Ambuklao Dam in Benguet Province posed a -0.13 drop as it registered, at present, a 747.36 m RWL from its 747.49 m RWL on Tuesday.

Other dams that sustain a decrease in water level are the La Mesa Dam in Quezon City, which has a 24-hour WL deviation of -0.04 (from 75.96 m to 75.92 m), and the Magat Dam in Isabela with -0.01 (from 172.00 m to 171.99 m).

Only the Ipo Dam in Bulacan noted a slight rise of 0.04 WL—from 99.51 m RWL to now 99.55 m RWL.

PAGASA Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section chief Analiza Solis earlier said that lessening of WL in dams is normal during the warm and dry seasons.

She added that, due to the ongoing El Niño, the Angat Dam is expected to continue exhibiting a reduction in its RWL.

“We said that we are managing our Angat properly so that at least at the end of the effects of what we call El Niño and our warm and dry season months, we will still be able to recover just in time when our rainy season arrives,” she added.