The said farmers who get irrigation supply coming from Angat Dam through the Bustos Dam and the Angat Maasim River Irrigation System (AMRIS) also got a reprieve from the impact of the dry season through the ground-breaking on Friday of the repair and works on the old Bustos Dam.
Gloria Carillo, Bulacan agriculture officer said the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) will no longer push through with the earlier scheduled April 15 cut-off of irrigation supply to the farmers in 17 towns in Bulacan and Pampanga and instead moved it to May 15.
Carillo said farmers were told of only a reduced volume of water releases for the irrigation. She explained that the water release cannot be totally stopped and at the same time cannot be maintained at the rate of 15 cubic meters per second (cms) and had to be reduced. “Low volume of water is needed as the palay crops near maturity,” she added.
Aside from providing 97 percent of the water need of Metro Manila, serving as a flood control project and generating electricity through the Angat hydro electric power plant, Angat Dam also supplies the water needs of the said farmers through releases towards the Bustos Dam.
Over the past several years during El Nino and dry spell, it had always been the irrigation function of Angat Dam that were first to be sacrificed so as not to disrupt the water supply for Metro Manila.
The earlier announcement by NIA was made as Angat Dam started to post a continued decrease in its water reserves from its four-month abundant supply since December after rains brought by Typhoon Nona filled the dam.
On Tuesday, Angat Dam was at 196.71 meters above sea level (masl) compared with its 212 normal high level.
Ildefonso Canquin, president of Bulakan town municipal agriculture and fishery council (MAFC), a south outskirt and far reach of AMRIS water said that they have been receiving 15 cms water allocation from NIA and they are advised that the distribution will last until April 15.
However, both Carillo and Canquin could not say up to how many cms the releases were reduced to.
Canquin said despite the hot weather and threats of pest attack during this dry spell and El Nino, the continuous supply of water had protected and made their palay and other crops to grow.
Canquin said that they also conduct water management and strategies to keep receiving water supply from NIA.
He said one way is through cleaning of the waterway canals and irrigation so that water can freely flow and reach their farms and crops.
The repair of the old and dilapidated Bustos Dam which for several years had failed to hold more volume of water to help sustain the irrigation needs of farmers and work as a flood control facility will finally kick off on Friday after years of lobbying by Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado.
Alvarado had long been seeking the help of the national government to fund the repair of the Bustos Dam also known as Angat Afterbay Regulator Dam to be able to perform its functions as a flood control project and in keeping a sound supply of irrigation needs of the farmers.
The Bustos Dam facility had its repair since last 15 years ago.
