{"id":68536,"date":"2016-01-10T02:39:07","date_gmt":"2016-01-10T07:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=68536"},"modified":"2016-01-10T02:56:28","modified_gmt":"2016-01-10T07:56:28","slug":"angat-water-conservation-still-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/01\/10\/angat-water-conservation-still-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"Angat water conservation still needed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"View<\/a>
View of Angat Dam from San Lorenzo (Hilltop), Norzagaray, Bulacan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA \u2013 Environment and Natural Resources chief Ramon Paje sees urgency in further conserving Angat Dam\u2019s water, despite abundance of this facility\u2019s reserve at present, to help ensure water availability there amid drought-driving El Ni\u00f1o phenomenon\u2019s expected brunt in early 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cConservation should start this January even if Angat\u2019s water level is high,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He noted National Water Resources Board (NWRB) will soon review Angat\u2019s water situation and the latest El Nino forecast so government can allocate water from the dam accordingly for forthcoming months.<\/p>\n

NWRB is attached to the environment department and is government\u2019s lead agency in the Philippine water sector.<\/p>\n

Rain-fed Angat supplies water for irrigation, power generation and Metro Manila\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

Last year, NWRB reduced allocation of Angat water for Metro Manila and suspended normal supply of irrigation water from the dam as the prevailing strong El Nino negatively affected water availability there.<\/p>\n

State weather and climate authority Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) also warned about such El Nino\u2019s possible intensification to a new record level, further prompting government to implement both measures.<\/p>\n

In late 2015, however, Angat Dam\u2019s water situation improved as rainfall from several tropical cyclones then increased reserve in this facility.<\/p>\n

PAGASA reported Angat\u2019s water level at 213.50 meters as of 6 a.m. Saturday (Jan. 9).<\/p>\n

Such level is higher than Angat\u2019s flood season high water level of 212 meters, the year-end water elevation PAGASA cited as ideal for this dam to meet its triple purposes during an incoming year\u2019s first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngat\u2019s water level at present is high enough for those purposes,\u201d said PAGASA hydrologist Ronalyn Macalalad.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s advocating water conservation as PAGASA expects El Nino to prevail until mid-2016.<\/p>\n

Paje agrees, noting there might still be no rain by then due to El Nino even if the rainy season generally commences around mid-year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must conserve water,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

PAGASA\u2019s forecast released this week indicates Angat Dam will likely face water woes during 2016’s first semester even if this agency expects then two to six tropical cyclones in the Philippine Area of Responsibility.<\/p>\n

The forecast shows possible way below-normal rainfall in Angat watershed this February and March, easing to below-normal rainfall in April before improving to near-normal rainfall in May and June.<\/p>\n

Angat Dam\u2019s water level will likely dip to some 208 meters by February\u2019s first week, the forecast also shows.<\/p>\n

PAGASA earlier warned the country will experience, during 2016’s first semester, the brunt of El Nino\u2019s peak intensity.<\/p>\n

Expected then are drought and dry spell conditions frombelow-normal rainfall and warmer-than-normal air temperature, said PAGASA.<\/p>\n

According to PAGASA\u2019s senior weather specialist Analisa Solis, El Nino\u2019s intensity already peaked during the October-November-December 2015 period.<\/p>\n

She noted impact of such development will be most pronounced from February to April 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lag time before we experience El Nino\u2019s impact,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2013 Environment and Natural Resources chief Ramon Paje sees urgency in further conserving Angat Dam\u2019s water, despite abundance of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":9987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[9640],"class_list":["post-68536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-pna","mauthors-catherine-teves","mauthors-philippines-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}