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Clamor to save aging Angat dam snowballs

Posted on June 1, 2015

By Emil G. Gamos

MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan, June 1 (PNA)–Teachers and students have joined the bandwagon in the growing clamor to save the aging Angat dam which some engineers now described as a “ticking time bomb” as it is nestled along the West Valley fault that some experts said is no longer dormant and might move anytime and trigger a powerful magnitude 7.2 earthquake.

The possible bursting of the old dam has become the topic and “talk of the day” during the opening of classes in several schools and universities in the province with some even conducting basic drills and disaster preparedness.

Some students even urged Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado to again bring to the attention of President Benigno S. Aquino III the “clear and present danger” hanging like the proverbial “Sword of Damocles” over their heads so that the immediate rehabilitation and strengthening of the 47-year old earth dam in the mountains of Norzagaray could be expedited.

Earlier, village chiefs from San Jose del Monte City and in the towns of Dona Remedios Trinidad, and Norzagaray have asked the governor on the situation of the dam and its structural integrity after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) once again confirmed that the Angat dam and its main dike is sitting over the West Valley fault line.

”The destruction it will cause is unimaginable especially if the 47 years old Angat dam will collapse because not only the province of Bulacan will be wiped out but also big parts of Pampanga and Metro Manila,” the governor said.

He also told village chiefs from the towns of Norzagaray, San Jose Del Monte and Dona Remedios Trinidad, that even if residents of Metro Manila survive the “Big One” they will still face another dilemma of an equally “deadly” proportion.

“They will die of thirst and for a long time will have no supply of potable water,” the governor said, adding that it is also important for concerned agencies to seriously consider dangers being poised by Angat dam, whose main dike is over the fault line.

Angat dam supplies 97 percent of the potable water needs of Metro Manila.

Without water, he said it is hard to imagine where residents of Metro Manila will get it once the source is destroyed.

He said that Angat dam is located on the highest slope of the mountains in eastern Bulacan.

He said that it is hard to imagine how fast rampaging waters that could be 30 meters high will wipe out villages.

He said the people of Bulacan are once again appealing to the national government to send engineers and experts to prod the new owner of Angat dam to immediately start its rehabilitation.

Alvarado said that since Phivolcs renewed its confirmation that the West Valley fault is still active, it has again brought dilemmas on the people of Bulacan who have been crying out for the immediate repair since 2008.

Some civil engineers also urged the new owners and operator of the dam to adopt the study and suggestion of Tonkin and Taylor, the Europe-based consultancy firm hired by the government to study the structural integrity of the dam.

The governor also suggested to the management of K-Water to implement the suggestions of the Tonkin and Taylor dam experts so that the repair and fortification of the dam could start immediately.

“Its repair should not be delayed any longer. There is now a growing clamor to save and fortify the structural integrity of the 47-year old dam which is situated in the highest slope of the mountain in Norzagaray,” he added. (PNA)

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