Angat logs all-time-low water level

MALOLOS, Bulacan , Philippines  – Heavy downpour on Thursday night inundated streets in Metro Manila, but failed to increase the water level in Angat Dam, which dropped to an all-time low yesterday.

Records from the Bulacan disaster risk reduction and management office showed that as of 11 a.m. yesterday, the water level in Angat was 150.91 meters, or lower by 48 centimeters from the previous day’s 151.39 meters.

The elevation was below the previously lowest level recorded in July 2010, which was 157.56 meters.

Yesterday’s elevation was lower by 9.08 meters from the dam’s critical level of 160 meters, and 61.09 meters below the normal high-water level of 212 meters.

Angat supplies 90 percent of Metro Manila’s potable water needs and provides irrigation water to palay farms in Bulacan and parts of Pampanga.

Water crisis seen in Metro Manila

Metro Manila may face another water crisis next year if the water level in Angat will not improve, especially amid a possible strong El Niño phenomenon, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

PAGASA projected that by the end of October, the water level in Angat will rise to 172.74 meters only, still below the dam’s minimum operating level of 180 meters.

“If the water level in Angat Dam does not reach 210 meters by the end of the year, we may face a water crisis next year,” PAGASA senior hydrologist Richard Orendain said during the agency’s monthly climate forum.

Angat first fell below its minimum operating level for this year on May 11.

It dipped past its critical level of 160 meters on July 4.