Norzagaray, Bulacan — Various groups of engineers, senior citizens, youths, students and different environmentalists have appealed for the immediate strengthening and rehabilitation of Angat Dam which is already at high risk of breaking in the event of a major earthquake.
“The Angat dam rehabilitation should not be later, tomorrow or next time, but now,” the group said.
The groups raised a howl after consulting firm, Poyry Energy Limited, said it will complete its study on the rehabilitation of Angat Dam sometime in the second quarter of 2016, pushing back by at least a year what Bulakeños expected was this month’s start of the rehabilitation work.
In 2012, Tonkin and Taylor International, the group commissioned to test the structural integrity of Angat Dam, recommended the dam’s immediate rehabilitation after findings revealed that that the old structure and its dike are sitting on a fault line and could flood 30 cities and towns if damaged in an earthquake.
The Bulakenyos are also calling the residents of Metro Manila and Pampanga to join the clamor of Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado, Vice Governor Daniel R. Fernando, and other concerned Bulacan officials in calling the attention of the new owners and operator of the aging Angat dam to expedite its much-overdue rehabilitation and fortification and make it strong enough to withstand a powerful earthquake like the feared “Big One” that experts said could be triggered by the movement of the West Valley fault line.
It was learned that the rehabilitation work for retrofitting and additional spillway for strengthening the 47-year-old Angat Dam had been scheduled to start this month but a new rehabilitation study that is being undertaken will push back the long-overdue repairs. The results of the study will be released during the second quarter of 2016.
In effect, that pushes back K-Water’s commitment in its contract to commence rehabilitation and repair of the Angat Dam by more than a year.
MANILA BULLETIN
