Efforts on to bring down Angat Dam water level

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines – The National Power Corp. (Napocor) is still struggling to keep the water elevation of Angat Dam below its spilling level, saying it might take them until Christmas to do this.

This, as a shallow low pressure area near Palawan dumped heavy rains in Luzon and the Visayas.

Bulacan authorities are closely monitoring water releases from the dam to prevent another flooding in the province.

“It might take us until Christmas to bring down the water elevation of the Angat Dam to 212 meters,” engineer Russel Rigor said in a telephone interview yesterday.

As lead hydrologist of Napocor that manages Angat Dam, Rigor said they are only spilling 640 cubic meters per second (cms) from the dam, while the inflow coming from rainfall reached 1,200 cms on Saturday. This led the dam’s water elevation to increase despite the 24-hour spill.

Yesterday morning, the dam’s water elevation further climbed to 216 meters from the 215.68 meters recorded at 8 a.m. last Saturday.

Asked about the stability of the dam as water increases in its reservoir, Rigor said the 43-year-old Angat Dam was designed to hold up to 219 meters above sea level.

The situation, however, has sown fear among Bulakenyos living downstream of the dam, who cited statements by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology that the Marikina West Valley Fault is just 200 meters east of the dam’s main structure.

Rigor tried to allay this fear, saying they are closely monitoring the dam and that Napocor wants to increase water released from the dam but has to consider its impact on downstream communities.

This include monitoring the stability of Ipo Dam in Norzagaray and Bustos Dam which are both downstream of the Angat Dam, as well as the riverbank communities in Norzagaray, Baliuag, Angat, San Rafael, Bustos, Plaridel, and Calumpit towns.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office said Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado has coordinated with Napocor officials for the gradual release of water from the dam to prevent another flooding in the low-lying towns of Hagonoy, Pulilan, Paombong and Calumpit.

Earlier, first district Rep. Marivic Alvarado filed a bill urging the government to establish a national dam safety program as well as a single agency that will set standards and regulate dam operations for the safety of downstream communities.