Napocor violates water protocol level - Espino

Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr., this afternoon, has expressed serious concern over the fact that as of 12:00 noon today, the water level at the San Roque Multi-purpose Dam has reached 281.22 meters above sea level, which is 1.22 meters beyond the agreed protocol spilling level of 280 meters above sea level. To make things worse, while the reported inflow as of 12:00 noon today is 712 cubic meters per second, the NPC has maintained the slow and minimal release of dam waters at the rate of 334 cubic meters per second since 10:00 p.m. last night. This means that every second since 10:00 p.m. last night, San Roque Dam has been accumulating more water at the rate of at least 378 cubic meters per second. This explains why the water level has increased from 276.1 meters above sea level as of 4:00 p.m. yesterday to the reported 281.22 meters above sea level at 12:00 noon today. If the situation continues, the water elevation in San Roque Dam will continually go higher until the situation becomes catastrophic as if we never learned from that tragic experience in Typhoon Peping, where a deluge of dam waters at the rate of at least 5,000 cubic meters per second destroyed everything across its path in the different towns located along the Agno River. The Governor has therefore expressed not just concern for the safety of the people of Pangasinan, but also anger over this blatant violation of the NPC of the spilling level protocol as previously agreed upon and established as a policy guideline for the safe operation and management of the San Roque Multi-purpose Dam. Consequently he has sent a stern advice to the NPC, through San Roque Power Corporation Vice President Tom Valdez, to act now and prevent the situation from reaching catastrophic levels and exposing the people of Pangasinan to unnecessary danger.