The Puerto Princesa City Water District (PPCWD) stated Thursday its cloud seeding efforts have helped in the rise of water level in Campo Uno dam in Barangay Irawan.
Jenn Rausa, Information Officer of PPCWD, said that the water level increased from 1,857.13 cubic meters per day covering the May 3-10 cloud seeding operations to 4,431.12 cubic meters per day from May 10-17.
“After ng unang linggo ng ating operation na talagang nagkaroon ng increase, sobra sa twice ang pag-increase ng ating production sa Campo Uno and nakapag-resume na tayo ng 24 hours na operation doon. Itong isinasagawa nating cloud seeding activity, although meron nga tayo na mga nararanasan na scattered rain showers, unfortunately, iyon ay di tumatama sa ating watershed area kung saan located ang ating main source,” Rausa pointed out.
However, Rausa also said that the increase in daily production is still far from the 18,000 cubic meters daily average of Campo Uno dam.
“Itong pag-start natin ng cloud seeding operation natin, nakita natin ‘yong pag-increase talaga sa ating water level, sa production capacity sa Campo Uno na kumpara noong nakaraang buwan na sobrang baba, to the point na ‘yong ating flow rate sa Campo Uno ay bumaba ng 80 cubic meters per hour and nag-half day na lang ‘yong operation nito,” she added.
Rausa said that some parts in the dam’s infiltration gallery are still dry despite the increase in water level.
Records showed that the highest accumulated rainfall was at 50.6 millimeters on Sunday.
“Baka iyon ang maging question, nag-clou-cloud seeding pero bakit parang walang nangyayari? Nasipsip na kasi ng lupa ‘yong ulan na dala ng cloud seeding kaya ibig sabihin lang saturated na ‘yong mga aquifers, ‘yong mga susunod na ulan na dadalhin, pang-replenish na siya ng surface talaga,” she said.
Rausa said that although the water level in Campo Uno has increased and that complaints have minimized, Alert Level 3 will still not be lifted and water rationing operations will not be stopped.
She said that they still have to wait for the rain to normalize and fall regularly over Campo Uno.
“Yong water rationing, ‘di pa natin nili-lift ‘yan kasi ito namang cloud seeding operation natin after 40 hours wala na. Hindi naman natin sigurado kung pagtapos ng cloud seeding natin, start na rin ng natural rain na bumagsak diyan sa watershed kaya hihintayin namin, i-o-observe namin na kapag maganda na ‘yong flow diyan sa Irawan, sa ilog, kapag nakita natin na kahit papaano ay nakakapag-replenish na, saka natin ili-lift ‘yong water rationing at yong Level 3,” Rausa pointed out.
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