NIA: Not enough water for farms next summer
CLIMATE change brings bad news to farmers in Pangasinan.
There will not be enough water to irrigate rice farms, particularly in eastern Pangasinan, during the coming dry months next year.
This was bared by Ceferino Sta. Ana, project manager of the Agno Irrigation System Extension Project, a special project of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) because the reservoir of San Roque Dam in San Manuel town failed to attain its desired water level.
He said the present elevation of the San Roque Dam reservoir is only 272 meters above sea level (masl), considered as “below normal level” when it should be 280 masl or 278 masl to ensure enough water for all the farms set to be planted for the second rice cropping season.
Because of this, he said, NIA and the Department of Agriculture will be constrained to limit the release in programmed areas for second crop rice in eastern Pangasinan, Sta. Ana said.
He blamed the fewer rains and typhoons that hit the upper stream of the Agno River for the low water level of the San Roque dam.
He also noted that despite the mild El Nino this year that may extend up to April next year, San Roque Dam failed to attain its desired water level.
San Roque has components for hydro-electric power, irrigation as well as flood control and pollution control.
The water impounded in its reservoir is first used in generating some 400 megawatts of power for the Luzon grid. In the course of power generation, it discharges water downstream and is captured in the re-regulating pond that distributes water to the farms.
He said NIA is holding meetings with farmers in eastern Pangasinan to explain the situation to them.
Meanwhile, Governor Amado Espino III already directed the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist to facilitate the distribution of shallow tube wells in areas that can not be reached by national irrigation systems.
Oftociano Manalo, president of the Pangasinan Irrigators’ Association, also called on his fellow farmers to plant corn and vegetables rather than palay in the coming few weeks. (Leonardo Micua)
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