August 12, 2015,
Dagupan City's e- SOC hosted Technical Conference attended by Senior Staff
from the National Irrigation
Administration (NIA) namely, Engrs
Benjamin Parayno, AgapitoYamat, Eddie Paringit, Shirley Ducusin. They were
joined by Ms. Emma Molina, (City Agriculture Office), Alfredo Dawana, (
FOODFACCI President), and Ramon Santillan, ( FOODFACCI Secretary) . The event
was covered by Ms Janice Hidalgo and
Verno Loresco of TODAY's local newspaper. Prof. Nicanor O. Melecio, MBM,
Project Director for ASEAN CHALLENGE 2015-2016 Engr. Al Penamante ( Supervising
Consultant) , Ronnel A. DeVera( e-SOC Intern), jointly delivered a briefing on
the impact of water releases from the ARISIP
Dam.
MAYOR BELEN FERNANDEZ , NIA REGIONAL
MANAGER JONH CELESTE ORGANIZES DAGUPAN IRRIGATORS ASSOCIATION.
Dagupan City---This August 12, 2015, Dagupan City's e- SOC
Technical Conference attended by Senior Staff from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA),
representatives of Engr. Jonh Celeste (NIA Regional Manager) namely, Engrs. Benjamin Parayno,
AgapitoYamat, Eddie Paringit, Shirley Ducusin,
they were joined by Ms. Emma Molina, (City Agriculture Office), with
observersAlfredo Dawana, ( FOODFACCI President), and Ramon Santillan, (
FOODFACCI Secretary) . The event was covered by
Ms Janice Hidalgo and VernoLoresco of TODAY's local newspaper. Upon
their arrival, Engr. Al Penamante( Supervising Consultant) gave a quick tour about e-SOC Programs and
Facilities.
The
following were discussed during the said
technical conference, to wit;
list of prospective membership of Dagupan NIA Irrigators Association numbering more or less 40-60 members;
schedule the 1st Organizational Meeting of NIA Dagupan Irrigators which was
scheduled on August 14, 2015 , 2:00pm at e-SOC
Conference Room; registration of the association with the Securities Exchange Commission(SEC)
and accreditation by the NIA to be lawfully recognized recipient of benefits
and packages provided by said entity. Under its program, the NIA Dagupan
Irrigators Association could avail of the NIA's P25 Million Gravity Irrigation
Canal Project and Twenty one (21) units of shallow tube wells which shall be
given to farmers unable to avail of waters from the Canal Project.
The
objective of the P25 Million Gravity Irrigation Project is to irrigate the
agricultural fields of Dagupan City in order to help the farmers increase rice
yield production and to control the excess waters coming from the release of
waters in NIA's Main Irrigation Canal. This pro-activeapproach in finding solutions to the formidable problem
on flooding upon instruction of Mayor Belen T. Fernandez was spearheaded by
Prof. Nicanor O. Melecio, Project Director for ASEAN CHALLENGE2015-2016,
official liaison for the City of Dagupan and Province of Pangasinan for DPWH Flood
Control Projects. He is a veteran flood tracker during Typhoon ( Marce)
2004, Pepeng ( 2009) and recently this
July flooding.
The
releases from ARISIP dam covering the period July 3 to July 19, 2015 which
Dagupan e-SOC Flood Trackers have tracked appear to have "stacked"
irrigation water on top of the rain water that fell on Dagupan City. During the
period July 3 to 19, 2015, Engr.
Paringit had emphasized that the water requirements of land soaking in San
Manuel is very high even during the onset of the heavy rainfall as registered
in Dagupan City . According to him, San Manuel registered a light rainfall and
was therefore insufficient to soak the area.Consequently it needs a high volume
of irrigation from the Main Canal. Due to the poor conditions of the lateral
canals, only 60% of the irrigation water is absorbed while 40% find their way
to the Sinocalan River.
Other cited reasons for San Manuel's high
requirement of water for land soaking are; 1. San Manuel soil is sandy;and 2.land elevation is high. Hence, in order to
mitigate these problems, Engr. Paringit and Yamat recommended the improvement
of canal facilities to reducethe 40% of excess water which causes flooding. Prof. Melecio urged them to prepare the
necessary Program of Work for their proposed of improvement for immediate
inclusion in the NIA Regional Budget for 2016 in time for deliberation of the
GAAin Congress this October before it’s too late.
There
is also a need to conduct a technical conference or hydrological study on water
balance such as percolation, evaporation, rainfall, or saturation requirements
to contain this 40% excess water of land soaking requirements of the San Manuel
area. The excess water flows and traverses Asingan ,Binalonan, Urdaneta,
Sta.Barbara, Calasiao downward to Dagupan City.
It must be noted that the cropping plan prepared by NIA is a requirement
of San Roque Dam for its allocation of water volume to the re-regulating pond.
The schedule of irrigation waters needed by farmers in accordance with the
cropping pattern determinesthe amount of water released through NIA’s Main
Canal. However, these are adjusted during heavy rainfall to reduce the tax paid
by NIA to the National Water Resources Board whenever it releases waters to
accredited NIA Irrigators Association. (Ronnel A. DeVera)
