In peril. Swimmers at Bustos Dam. Photo by Dino Balabo
HAGONOY, Bulacan—No fishing, dipping and swimming is allowed at the apron of Bustos Dam.
This was the warning of a ranking official of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) after disclosing that rubber gates of the dam located in between San Rafael and Bustos town is nearing the end of its lifespan.
Felix Robles, the officer in charge of NIA’s Water Control and Coordinating Unit (WCCU) said a similar rubber gate of a dam in Florida in the United States burst recently leading to rapid outflow of water from the reservoir.
Robles and other dam officials were in this town yesterday during the first leg of disaster preparedness information drive initiated by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and the National Power Corporation (Napocor)
“The lifespan of a rubber gate is 14 to 15 years, and it could be shorter like the one in Florida depending on the weather condition,” he said noting that rubber gates installed at Bustos Dam are as old as the one that burst in Florida.
Since the rubber gates of Bustos Dam are nearing the end of their lifespan, Robles said they cannot ascertain safety, and must be replaced immediately.
He advised local residents to stop fishing on the dam’s apron, while warning local tourists from dipping and swimming at the downstream of the dam.
“Its can burst anytime, and when deflated, water will rush downstream to the apron,” he said and added that every year they conduct repair on the cracks on the rubber gate by vulcanizing it.
At present, NIA has installed steel-fence on the downstream of the dam, but people continue to flock there with the provincial tourism office promoting the dam apron as a good place to dip in during summer.
Robles said the potential of danger is very clear and imminent, that’s why they asked even barangay officials to discourage residents from fishing and swimming on the dam apron.
He said that the rubber gates of Bustos Dam were installed in 1998 by Zenitaka Construction which was contracted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which also spearheaded rehabilitation on the dam’s apron.
Built in the early 60s, Bustos Dam is operated by the NIA and serves as an after bay regulatory dam of the bigger Angat Dam in Norzagaray town.
It has six 80 meters long rubber gates which are 2.5 meters high.
Bustos Dam straddles the entire length of the Angat River in between Bustos and San Rafael towns where water for irrigation is distributed through a network of irrigation canals to as far west as Bocaue, Bulakan, and Hagonoy towns; and to as far east as San Miguel in Bulacan and Candaba in Pampanga.
