Water board extends irrigation supply from Angat: Philippines

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Irrigation allocation from Angat Dam for rice fields in Bulacan and Pampanga has been extended until Nov. 15 by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB).

The irrigation allocation from Angat Dam for rice fields in Central Luzon was supposed to be until Oct. 30 only.

Josephine Salazar, chief of the National Irrigation Administration for Central Luzon, requested the NWRB to extend the allocation from Angat to irrigate rice crops that were replanted in farms destroyed in a series of floods spawned by the southwest monsoon as well as Typhoons Egay and Falcon in July and August.

Francisco Clara, chief of the water control and coordinating unit of Bustos Dam, said the floods devastated 7,477.24 hectares of irrigated rice farms in Bulacan and parts of Pampanga.

The extension of the irrigation allocation will provide sufficient water to rice crops that were replanted, according to farmers' group leader Mel Domingo.

He said that floods and the replanting of the rice crops delayed the targeted harvest time from late October to early November.