Water in San Roque Dam is below normal level
SAN MANUEL— Unless heavy rains fall in the town’s area, the reservoir water level (RWL) of San Roque Dam may reach beyond normal level.
As of June 21, the level of water at San Roque Dam is now down to 192.56 meters, a way below its high water level at 280 meters.
In this regard, residents are advised to observe the yellow and red alerts being issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) from time to time that indicate insufficiency of power supply in the hydro-electric dams in Luzon.
Statistics released by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on June 21 already strongly indicate that the level of water of some dams, including San Roque Dam, appears inadequate due to lack of rains.
The indicators should warn that the capacity of dams to generate power for the Luzon Grid, as well as for irrigation, could be drastically reduced.
Water of the San Roque Dam is not only used for power generation but also in irrigating thousands of hectares of rice lands in Pangasinan as well as in parts of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.
The San Roque dam is located in the Lower Agno River Basin, whereas the Binga as well as Ambuklao hyro-electric dams are located in the Upper Agno River Basin in Benguet province.
The waters of San Roque, Binga and Ambuklao are being used to turn water turbines in the course of generating power. While they generate power, they discharge water downstream and in the case of San Roque, the discharged water is conveyed to the rice farms in Pangasinan for the benefit of farmers downstream.
The San Roque dam, located in San Manuel town, is reputed to be the largest rock-fill dam all over Southeast Asia and the second largest all over Asia.
Officials said it may probably take cyclones and one week of non-stop rains for these reservoirs to be filled up and reach their normal power generating capacities. (Leonardo Micua)
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