The Department of Agriculture (DA), in partnership with the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), will undertake cloudseeding operations (CSOps) in Central Luzon to stem the declining water level in Pantabangan Dam.
Agriculture Secretary William Dar has given the go-signal for the DA’s Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) to commence CSOps to induce rains over parts of Central Luzon (Region 3), where the bulk of the rice areas are in their critical reproductive stage.
“With this initiative, we can ensure a respectable rice harvest in Central Luzon, particularly in Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Bulacan, and Tarlac,” Secretary Dar said.
“For this joint effort, we thank the NIA, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and the Philippine Army’s Fort Magsaysay,” noted DA-BSWM Director Sonia Salguero in her report to Secretary Dar.
Salguero said the CAA has already given clearance for the cloudseeding to proceed, making use of Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija as the base of operations, and NIA has initially allotted P6 million for the project.
Secretary Dar said the DA is vigorously partnering with NIA and irrigators’ associations to ensure adequate water for rice farms in Central Luzon, which remains as the country’s rice granary and main source of the staple for Metro Manila and other rice-deficit areas in Luzon.
“Central Luzon is a critical component in our objective to achieve food security, especially for residents in the National Capital Region,” the DA chief said.
He immediately acted on a report submitted by BSWM Director Salguero, who recommended cloudseeding within Pantabangan’s watershed area to bring up the dam’s “very low reservoir water level (RWL).”
Pantabangan Dam is one of the largest dams in Asia and supplies the irrigation requirements for agricultural lands in Central Luzon. Its power station generates 112 megawatts of hydroelectric power.
As of September 5, 2020, Pantabangan Dam’s RWL is at 182.17 meters or 30.97 meters below its normal high water level of 216 meters.
“This means the stored water at Pantabangan Dam is not enough to supply the irrigation requirements of the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (UPRIIS) operated by NIA,” said Salguero. More than 141,430 hectares are programmed to be served by UPRIIS this rainy season.
For his part, DA Region 3 Director Crispulo Bautista said “the cloudseeding will indeed nourish the watershed area of Pantabangan Dam, and ensure supply of needed irrigation for rice lands in Central Luzon.”
NIA expects that the possible arrival of La Niña in the coming months may help increase the water level of Pantabangan Dam.
Salguero also reported that there is no urgent need to conduct CSOps in Regions 1 (Ilocos Region) and 2 (Cagayan Valley Region).
Although rice areas in the Ilocos provinces are also at either reproductive or even maturing stages, the area has received ample rainfall due to the southwest monsoon and enhanced by the recent Typhoon Julian (international name ‘Maysak’).
Cornfields in Cagayan Valley, in the meantime, are already at the mature stage, while some have even started harvesting. ### (DA StratComms)
