As Angat dam's water level further drops: Cloud seeding, cut in water supply eyed

The National Water Resources Board (NWRB) yesterday said cloud seeding and gradual reduction of water supply are now in order as the water level of Angat Dam in Norzagaray, Bulacan continues to decrease.

To date, Angat’s water level is already below 176 meters and may even go down further if there will be no rainfall in the reservoir until the end of the month, said Jorge Estioco, NWRB’s monitoring head at the dam.

The NWRB, however, insisted that the continued drop of Angat’s water level is “temporary” as it remains hopeful that there will be rains soon, as predicted by the weather bureau.

“It has been (our) consensus during the technical working group meeting on Tuesday that cloud-seeding operations will be conducted to hopefully improve the water level of Angat Dam, and implement a gradual reduction (in water supply) since this is just a temporary water shortage,” Estioco told reporters.

Estioco said the gradual reduction would involve water supply from Angat to Ipo Dam, and not necessarily water supply for domestic use and irrigation.

The 100.8-meter level of the Ipo Dam, according to Estioco, would be decreased to 100.3 meters, and possibly to 100.2 meters in the coming days.

The cloud seeding will be undertaken by the National Power Corp. and Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.

“The documents for the operation are now being prepared,” Estioco said, adding that a 48-hour staggered cloud seeding operation might cost around P1.7 million.

The NWRB, however, warned that if Ipo Dam’s elevation would go down to 100 meters or below, water might be rationed in certain parts of Metro Manila, particularly the west zone under Maynilad Water Services Inc.

“Again, we believe this is just temporary because this year remains a neutral year, meaning normal naman, wala namang El Nino; delayed lang talaga ang ulan (the rains are just delayed),” he said.

Angat’s water level has been dropping since June 22, breaching the critical mark of 180 meters last July 1.

Angat supplies 97 percent of the water needs of Metro Manila and most of the irrigation requirements of farms in Central Luzon.

The NWRB is the government’s coordinating and regulatory agency for water resources management and development.

One of its tasks is to allocate water from the Angat Dam, depending on water in the Angat River.