By Catherine J. Teves
MANILA, July 28 (PNA) — Water level dipped anew in Pantabangan Dam, one of Southeast Asia’s largest dams, further raising concern about future supply of this facility’s water for irrigation in Central Luzon.
“Data for Pantabangan doesn’t look good,” State weather agency Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) hydrologist Elmer Caringal said Tuesday at a climate forum in Metro Manila.
He noted that Pantabangan’s water level dipped 0.06 meters to 181.89 meters as of 6 a.m. Tuesday from 181.95 meters 24 hours earlier.
Such level on Tuesday was 34.11 meters below the 216-meter flood season-high water level for this facility located in Nueva Ecija, he said.
Tuesday’s water level was also 22.15 meters below Pantabangan’s rule curve of 204.04 meters for the day, he added.
Rule curve guides a dam’s operation so this facility can meet purposes for which it was built, he noted.
“Rains from this month’s three successive tropical cyclones only slightly increased water availability in Pantabangan,” he said.
Despite Pantabangan’s water situation, Caringal said this dam supplies irrigation water to farmers in Central Luzon since the planting season there already commenced.
Central Luzon is among the country’s rice-producing regions.
“Rain feeds Pantabangan so we hope this dam will receive more downpour,” Caringal said.
For August 2015, PAGASA forecasts some 358.3 millimeters of rain in Pantabangan.
Caringal said Pantabangan’s water level will rise to 215 meters if such rain occurs in a single event and if this facility doesn’t release water for irrigation. (PNA)