MWSS: Angat Dam not hitting critical level

Despite the continuing drop in Angat Dam’s water level, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said it does not see it plunging to a critical level.

MWSS spokesperson engineer Patrick Dizon told DAILY TRIBUNE the decreasing water in the dam is normal during the dry months.

Angat Dam, located in Norzagaray, Bulacan, supplies raw water to most Metro Manila areas and irrigates about 28,000 hectares of farmland in Bulacan and Pampanga.

As of 6 a.m. on Tuesday, its water level was recorded at 196.15 meters, 15.85 meters short of its normal high level of 212 meters.

“[Based] on historical records, during these months, our reservoir is really on a downtrend. It declines around 0.3 to 0.4 centimeters every day (because) there is really no rain in our watershed during the first and second quarters of the year,” Dizon said.

“Starting in June and July, [the water level] will start to increase,” he said, citing the projection of the weather bureau — the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration — of La Niña’s possible occurrence in the coming months.

PAGASA said rainfall over the watershed may normalize by the end of May, and Dizon said the water at the reservoir may rise by June.

Dizon, however, warned that if the rains do not come in May and June, the dam will fall to its minimum operating level of 180 meters but not its critical level of 160 meters.

The MWSS has started lowering the water pressure of concessionaires in Metro Manila amid the decrease in Angat Dam’s water elevation.

He said this prevents the water reduction from reaching 0.5 centimeters per day.