While Angat Dam’s water level increased by more than a meter on Friday, the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) of the Department of Agriculture could not yet say if the cloud-seeding operations over the watershed in Bulacan caused the increase in the reservoir's level with just two out of 60 cloud-seeding sorties completed last Thursday.

As of 6 a.m. on Friday, Angat Dam's level increased by 1.06 meters from 158.60 meters last Thursday to 159.66 meters at present.

Although the current water level is still 20.34 meters short of the standard level of 180 meters, this has been the highest overnight increase since Angat Dam reached its all-time low water level last July 18 at 157.56 meters.

Engr. Rey Peregrino, BSWM’s Water Resources Management Division (WRMD) assistant chief, said the team is expected to conduct about 60 cloud-seeding sorties to induce rain over the watershed through the dispersal of a total of 100 sacks or 2,500 kilos of salt above seedable clouds.

Peregrino said the East Zone water concessionaire Manila Water Company, Inc., shouldered the expenses for the cloud-seeding operations amounting to P3.1 million.

“Our team finished two sorties on Thursday and was able to disperse 20 bags of salt over the clouds,” he said.

He explained that it took the BSWM team an hour to conduct one cloud-seeding sortie to spot enough seedable clouds to induce rains over the watershed.

Peregrino, however, could not yet confirm if the cloud-seeding operations had been a factor in the one-meter rise in Angat Dam’s level since rains in the upper portion of the watershed could also have contributed to the increase in the reservoir’s level.

He pointed out that the government spent about P25 million, including the present P3.1 million allocated by Manila Water for Angat Dam, for cloud-seeding operations nationwide to address the El Niño event this year.

During the 1997-1998 El Niño, cloud-seeding activities conducted nationwide by the BSWM amounted to P36.7 million.

Alarmed by the current water shortage, Sen. Edgardo Angara on Friday said there is a need to invest more in water infrastructure and implement practicable local government measures like rainwater collection.

Angara lamented that the water shortage in many parts of Metro Manila, caused by a severely depleted Angat Dam, happens when it is now rainy season.

“It seems ironic that while we experience continuing rains, our water supply continues to dwindle. The solution to our water problem is not instant or cursory. It requires extensive changes in the way we manage our country's resources and how we consume them,” said Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on science and technology.

“The Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned back in 2007, the Philippine’s clean water supply could be depleted by 2025, if we do not start cleaning up our act and invest more in water management and infrastructure.''

Manila, home to 12 million people, is one of nine major cities identified as "water-critical." The other eight are Metro Cebu, Davao, Baguio, Angeles, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, and Zamboanga.

“There’s a 21-year-old law that mandates the collection of rainwater in barangays to ensure the provision of fresh water. This covers the entire process, from catchment, to treatment, and distribution. They do this in India, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore, and it has proven quite effective. Why shouldn't we implement the same, especially since we get an abundance of rain?" Angara asked. (With a report by Rolly T. Carandang)