Cloud seeding to be done over Angat Dam

MANILA, Philippines - Cloud seeding operations will soon be conducted over Angat Dam to replenish its dwindling water supply.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) instructed the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to coordinate with the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), an attached agency of the DA that conducts cloud seeding operations.

Dr. Redentor Gatus, who heads the regional field unit of the DA in Central Luzon, told The STAR in a telephone interview yesterday that he instructed NIA to send a request to BSWM as early as last week.

He said that once the request is approved, cloud seeding operations will be conducted but added that the initial impact depends on the availability of seedable clouds.

“The BSWM has spotters near Angat Dam, and if there are seedable clouds, they can immediately start the operations,” Gatus said.

Like in the past, cloud seeding over the 63,000-hectare Angat watershed will start at the Plaridel airport in nearby Plaridel town, where planes are loaded with salt.

The salt loaded into the plane will then be sprayed on thick clouds that hover above the watershed.

In August 2007, similar operations were conducted as water elevation at the dam dipped to critical levels. The same operations were conducted last March and April as water elevation at the dam began to breach the critical 180-meter level.

On Friday, water elevation at the dam further dipped to 158.64 meters above sea level (masl), which is just .49 meters higher than the 158.15 masl, the lowest recorded water elevation at the dam.

The National Power Corp. (Napocor), which manages the dam, told The STAR that the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) further reduced total water allocation to Metro Manila.

Dennis Gana, Napocor corporate communications officer, said the NWRB reduced water allocation for Metro Manila to 32 cubic meters per second from the 33 cmps allocated last week.

Earlier, Rodolfo German, general manager of the Angat River hydroelectric power plant, said there would be enough water for Metro Manila in the next 45 days even if water at the dam is not replenish by rains during the same period.