Angat Dam’s water elevation level is at a “very comfortable level” amid the El Niño phenomenon, an official of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said on Monday.
MWSS Vice Chairman and Administrator Leonor Cleofas said a team is in charge of mitigating the possible effects of El Niño on water supply in the National Capital Region (NCR) later this year and the first half of next year.
“Our three concessionaires have laid down programs that will help, if ever there will be scarcity of water in our main source of water which is Angat (Dam),” she said in a press conference during the 19th Asia Water Council Board of Council Meeting.
“And we’re very happy to announce that currently, the elevation of Angat is very comfortable even compared to last year…Right now, it’s about 209, 208.8 meters and we are nearing our 210 normal operation of Angat,” she said.
The 56-year-old Angat Dam covers 90 percent of the consumers’ needs for clean and safe water in the NCR.
It also supplies water for the irrigation needs of 25,000 hectares of farmlands in Bulacan and Pampanga.
Earlier, the MWSS announced that the Angat hydroelectric power plant would undergo a 61-day rehabilitation starting Nov. 6, 2023. It will end on Jan. 6, 2024.
It assured the public that water concessionaires would continue to source water from Angat Dam despite the shutdown of the plant.
Built in 1967, the plant undergoes rehabilitation for the first time. Nonetheless, the dam has undergone expansion and fortification in 2018 in preparation for potential harms of strong earthquakes. (PNA)
