MALOLOS CITY—Bulacan is set to reclaim water allocation borrowed by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) from irrigation 12-years ago in a bid to secure water supply for local farmers.
This came as Bulacan and Pampanga farmers experienced losses in rice production since last year due to floods spawned by typhoon Ondoy.
Farmers said they are still uncertain if they will be able to plant rice by November as water elevation from the Angat Dam remains below the critical 180 meters as of Tuesday.
“We should not look for other alternative means to help our farmers in the future. We just have to take back actually allocation for irrigation,” said Board Member Enrique Viudez II during a joint hearing organized by the Committees on Agriculture and Environment on Thursday last week.
Viudez said that before the onslaught of El Niño in 1997, Bulacan and Pampanga farmers that depend on irrigation from the Angat Dam used to enjoy 36 cubic meters per second (cms) allocation.
However, as water elevation at the dam dropped to critical levels, the MWSS borrowed 15 cms allocation for irrigation to secure potable water supply for Metro Manila.
This was affirmed by Gloria Carillo, head of the Provincial Agriculture Office. He said that MWSS’s allocation was only 22 cms in 1997.
After the farmers consented with the MWSS, the waterworks’ allocation rose to 37cms, and further increased by the year 2000 after the opening of the 13-kilometer Umiray-Angat Transbasin Project (UATP) that provided MWSS another nine cms, increasing its total allocation to 46 cms.
“The MWSS is getting so much water from the Angat Dam to the detriment of local farmers in Bulacan and Pampanga,” Governor Wilhelmino Alvarado said in an earlier interview.
He also cited World Bank study which showed that one of MWSS’s concessionaries has at least 50 percent non-revenue water (NRW).
Alvarado said that 50 percent of water allocation was wasted due to illegal connection or leakages on the concessionaire’s pipelines.
“This is enough to sustain ricelands in Bulacan and Pampanga,” he said.
Alvarado also said that “this situation is almost a crime, if not a shame as it denies farmers and other citizens of its right to water.”
“Right to water is a basic human right, and yet, Bulacan and Pampanga farmers are denied of it,” he said noting that MWSS and the National Power Corporation (Napocor) still have to pay the province national wealth tax.
Meanwhile, to survive the lack of water allocation from the dam, local farmers have initiated construction of small farm reservoir (SFR).
Leopoldo Fajardo, the chair of the Provincial Fisheries and Agriculture Council (PAFC), said that farmers have no choice but to store rain water on SFR.
“Our problem is how to sustain crops we planted, that’s why many of us has dug small reservoir beside our farms,” Fajardo said in vernacular.
For their part, Board Members Felix Ople, Cheryl Therese Ople, Rino Castro, Ramon Posadas, Michael Fermin, and Allan Robes, and Vice Governor Daniel Fernando are considering other possible short and long term solutions to the lack of water allocation to local farmers.
Some of the solutions they are considering are the proposed construction of mini-dams along the Angat River, massive tree planting campaign, and provision of alternative seedlings to farmers.
This came as Bulacan and Pampanga farmers experienced losses in rice production since last year due to floods spawned by typhoon Ondoy.
Farmers said they are still uncertain if they will be able to plant rice by November as water elevation from the Angat Dam remains below the critical 180 meters as of Tuesday.
“We should not look for other alternative means to help our farmers in the future. We just have to take back actually allocation for irrigation,” said Board Member Enrique Viudez II during a joint hearing organized by the Committees on Agriculture and Environment on Thursday last week.
Viudez said that before the onslaught of El Niño in 1997, Bulacan and Pampanga farmers that depend on irrigation from the Angat Dam used to enjoy 36 cubic meters per second (cms) allocation.
However, as water elevation at the dam dropped to critical levels, the MWSS borrowed 15 cms allocation for irrigation to secure potable water supply for Metro Manila.
This was affirmed by Gloria Carillo, head of the Provincial Agriculture Office. He said that MWSS’s allocation was only 22 cms in 1997.
After the farmers consented with the MWSS, the waterworks’ allocation rose to 37cms, and further increased by the year 2000 after the opening of the 13-kilometer Umiray-Angat Transbasin Project (UATP) that provided MWSS another nine cms, increasing its total allocation to 46 cms.
“The MWSS is getting so much water from the Angat Dam to the detriment of local farmers in Bulacan and Pampanga,” Governor Wilhelmino Alvarado said in an earlier interview.
He also cited World Bank study which showed that one of MWSS’s concessionaries has at least 50 percent non-revenue water (NRW).
Alvarado said that 50 percent of water allocation was wasted due to illegal connection or leakages on the concessionaire’s pipelines.
“This is enough to sustain ricelands in Bulacan and Pampanga,” he said.
Alvarado also said that “this situation is almost a crime, if not a shame as it denies farmers and other citizens of its right to water.”
“Right to water is a basic human right, and yet, Bulacan and Pampanga farmers are denied of it,” he said noting that MWSS and the National Power Corporation (Napocor) still have to pay the province national wealth tax.
Meanwhile, to survive the lack of water allocation from the dam, local farmers have initiated construction of small farm reservoir (SFR).
Leopoldo Fajardo, the chair of the Provincial Fisheries and Agriculture Council (PAFC), said that farmers have no choice but to store rain water on SFR.
“Our problem is how to sustain crops we planted, that’s why many of us has dug small reservoir beside our farms,” Fajardo said in vernacular.
For their part, Board Members Felix Ople, Cheryl Therese Ople, Rino Castro, Ramon Posadas, Michael Fermin, and Allan Robes, and Vice Governor Daniel Fernando are considering other possible short and long term solutions to the lack of water allocation to local farmers.
Some of the solutions they are considering are the proposed construction of mini-dams along the Angat River, massive tree planting campaign, and provision of alternative seedlings to farmers.
