CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija–The provincial
government has set for tomorrow a water summit among various national
government agencies and local government units to prepare Nueva Ecija against
the adverse effects of the dreaded El Niño phenomenon on food production and
water supply in the country’s rice granary.
Gov.
Aurelio Umali will preside over the summit which will gather such agencies as
the Department of Agriculture, the National Irrigation Administration, water
districts, LGUs, farmers’ representatives and irrigators’ associations towards
formulating an action plan against El Niño.
Umali,
who conceptualized the summit said the event will try to identify the areas in
the province which will potentially be hit hard by the prolonged dry spell and
mitigate its impact on local farmers.
The
summit, he said, will try to come out with projection on the extent of damage,
adding they expect a significant decline in palay and rice production which, if
not addressed, will impact on food security targets on a nationwide scale.
“We
will include the farmers in our consultations because they are the ones who
will bear the brunt of El Niño,” he said, adding that they will also look into
improving the operations of irrigation canals to reduce water loss from the
source to distribution areas.
Last
week, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services
Administration advised Filipinos to prepare for below normal rainfall in the
last quarter of the year, as scientists are predicting the development of a
“weak to moderate” El Niño during the period.
Pagasa
administrator Vicente Malano said below normal rainfall is likely in most areas
of Luzon and the Visayas while near normal rainfall conditions are expected
over Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Albay, Eastern and Central Visayas and most
areas of Mindanao in the months of October, November and December.
The
last time El Niño hit the country was in 2009 and experts said the phenomenon
happens every four to five years.
Umali
said the province will have to be prepared for El Niño particularly since water
elevation in the Pantabangan Dam continues to drop at an alarming rate.
Last
week, water level at the dam was at 179.04 meters above sea level (masl) and
according to the National Irrigation Administration, it would take only 22 days
of zero rainfall for the water level to shrink to its critical level of 171
masl, which happened nearly two decades ago.
If
its water level continues to ebb, the dam, which services over 100,000 hectares
of farmlands in Nueva Ecija and parts of Bulacan, Pampanga and Tarlac, will be
able to irrigate only 60 percent of these areas, Umali said.
To
address the drop in the dam’s water level, Umali said the provincial government
released P1 million to bankroll the initial stage of cloud-seeding operations,
which is apart from financial support pledged by First Gen. Corp. and other
private entities.
He
said prior to the water summit, an inter-agency dialogue convened by the
provincial government saw the need to rationalize irrigation use during the dry
spell.
Umali
said the province, being the home of the Pantabangan Dam, should be prioritized
in the utilization of irrigation water over other provinces such as Bulacan,
Pampanga and Tarlac which also source their supply from the dam.
“Servicing
other provinces over Nueva Ecija is just unacceptable,” he said.
At
the same time, Umali said the summit will pave the way for the creation of an
inter-agency group that will look for other alternative sources of irrigation
water to lessen the province’s dependence on the Pantabangan Dam.
With
the dam not fully operational, they will utilize the Penaranda River
