Magat Dam water level above normal

By Charlie Lagasca

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya– The water level at the Magat Dam continues to rise, even surpassing its normal level, thanks to regular rainfall over the region.

This, as some major hydro-dams in Luzon are still reportedly experiencing water shortage.
As of yesterday’s reading July 25, the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said the water level at Magat Dam along the Isabela-Ifugao border reached 183.3 meters, at least five meters above the normal elevation.

Magat Dam engineer Saturnino Tenedor said the dam’s minimum normal level is 178 meters.
Yesterday’s water level July 25 was the highest since late last year when the dry spell started. Last March, the drought brought the water level to as low as 149 meters, barely a meter from the all-time low recorded almost three decades ago.

The dam’s rising water elevation has been the result of regular rainfall over the dam’s watershed areas, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya, since last month, Tenedor said.

Once Asia’s biggest hydro-dam, the Magat Dam has been the major source of irrigation for some 80,000 hectares of farmlands in Isabela, the country’s leading corn and rice-producing province.

The dam’s power component, now owned by SN Aboitiz Power, a Norwegian-Filipino consortium, also generates a maximum of 360 megawatts of power, the second biggest contributor to the Luzon grid among the hydro-dams in Luzon.