The recent visit of Pres. Benigno Aquino III to Angat Dam in Norzagaray, Bulacan signaled the start of the rehabilitation and repair of the structure of the main dike of the dam, which has been found by several scientific studies to be sitting on a splay or branch of the main West Valley Fault.
Tonkin and Taylor, an independent and foreign engineering consultant, even revealed in its report that a break in the Angat Dam can inundate by up to 30 meters in several towns and cities in Bulacan, Pampanga and even parts of Metro Manila.
While the problem on the rehabilitation of the Angat Dam has been resolved, another problem that has been besetting all the dams, not only Angat, is the number of agencies that oversee the maintenance, operation, and water usage of the more than 20 dams all over the country.
President Aquino said that there are 30 government agencies that have overlapping functions and responsibilities over our dams.
In his speech during his visit at Angat Dam, Aquino said: “Thirty ang ahensya ng naghahati-hati sa pangangasiwa sa sector na ito. Ang malala pa po nito, watak-watak ang mga institusyon, barabara ang mga plano, butas-butas ang datos at talagang talamakang pamumulitika.”
Just for the water usage alone, there are already four government agencies that directly supervise the release of water from our dams, namely: the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) that determines the prioritization on the use of water, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), National Irrigation Authority (NIA), and the National Power Corporation (Napocor) that operates several dams.
Based on the competing use of water, dams in Luzon have to be managed by these agencies. MWSS, for example, oversees the Angat, Ipo and La Mesa dams for water supply to more than three million water consumers in Metro Manila and three provinces. The NIA operates the Pantabangan and Bustos dams to irrigate agricultural lands, and Napocor oversees the hydroelectric system of the Angat Dam for power generation.
All these agencies have one common objective: revenues from water.
The government should not only concentrate on the usage of water, but should look into the structural condition of our dams. The dams protect our water resources, hence, it is reasonable that the government pays utmost attention to the structural integrity and protection of our dams.
Most of our dams are already old and were built without the aid of modern technology, such as the 42-year-old Pantabangan Dam and the 47-year-old Angat Dam.
Leo Jasareno of the Mines and Geoscience Bureau said that a structure is considered old when it is over 20 years.
These structures, he added, had no geotechnical studies conducted before these dams were constructed.
“Ang geotechnical studies, yan ay ang science na nag-aalam kung ang pundasyon ay matibay at kaya ng itayo ang dam. So mga private study yan. Bina-validate nalang ng government,” Jasareno said. “Lumalabas na isa yang policy gap na dapat mayrong ahensya ng gobyerno na tumitingin sa mga infrastructure na na-consruct bago pa na-require ang geo-hazard assessment.
Even Engr. Manny Monteverde of the Napocor admitted that the government has no dam safety act. The guidelines they are using are based on the international commission on large dam standards.
Monteverde said that they are following the integrated comprehensive safety program consisting of structural safety, operational, monitoring, and emergency preparedness. Every 5 years, they conduct comprehensive review with a third party to check the condition of the dam.
They also conduct daily monitoring and twice-a-year inspection on our dams.
The Angat Dam, Ipo Dam, and the Bustos Dam are all located in Bulacan. No wonder the Bulakenos are very much concerned with the structure of these dams. Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado likened himself to a traffic enforcer who constantly monitors the usage and flow of water from the three dams in his province.
“As governor, ako nagsasabi sa kanila kailan magtatapon, magrerelease, mahihinto sapagkat kami ay lulubog,” said Alvarado.
He emphasized the need for a single government agency that should handle all the maintenance, operation and water usage of the dams in the country.
“We have so many dams throughout the country, kinakailangan talaga mayroong isang departamento na nakatutok dito.”
Governor Alvarado added that we do not even have a national dam safety law.
Former Agham Partylist Rep. Angelo Palmones said that during his stint in Congress, he and some lower house members filed House Bill No. 5402 or the Philippine Dam Authority Act of 2011. Their group realized the importance of a single agency that should concentrate on dams only – from construction and maintenance up to operation and usage.
“Kinakailangang may isang ahensya ng gobyerno natutugon sa proteksyon at pagsasa-ayos ng mga dam sa bansa,”explained Palmones.
Palmones suggested that the Philippine Dam Authority should be under the Department of National Defense (DND) considering water is a national treasure.
It is just frustrating, he says, that this very important piece of legislation that could save people from possible catastrophic event has not been passed by congress.
The Aquino administration has seen this problem that it created the inter-agency committee on the water sector headed by Public Works Sec. Rogelio Singson. This committee is tasked to implement the so-called integrated Water Resource Management Policy.
For so many years, our dams have suffered from landslides, siltation, see pages and leaks. The watersheds of our dams, such as the Ipo Dam watershed, have suffered not from natural events but from man’s abuses – illegal logging, pangangaingin, and habitation. Without a single department that would integrate and harmonize the functions of different agencies, the danger posed by our aging dams will still remain.