Cloud seeding anytime

Next week, says OPA

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol May 10 (PIA) –Bohol should be able to start the much needed cloud seeding operations next week.

This is according to Provincial Agriculturist Liza Quirog, who added that the Provincial Bids and Awards Committee is already in the procurement process of the service that has been funded by the government through the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) of the Department of Agriculture.

Speaking at the Kapihan sa PIA on updating Boholanos of the initiatives of the government in mitigating the effects of the long dry spell brought about by the El Nino phenomenon, Quirog said that hinted that is the perfect time for the artificial rain as farmers are already about to prepare their lands for the next cropping season.

The lady head of the local agriculture office noted that by last month, corn farmers should have already prepared their farms for the corn planting season, which May is the regular wet cropping season for rice.

This too as the National Irrigation Administration in Region 7 reports very low levels of water in the dams, that could barely be enough for their service areas in the land preparation alone.

In its dam updates as of May 10, NIA reported that Malinao Dam in Pilar has long been not spilling and is currently at 151.55 meters which is just 5.51 meters before reaching critical levels.

For Bayongan Dam in San Miguel, it is beyond spilling and the current water level is at 46.85 meters and is just 5.85 meters above its low elevation or its critical level.

Capayas Dam in Ubay, also not spilling, has its water level at 32.74 meters and is just a little above the 30 meters critical level, or 2.74 meters of water only.

In Talibon where there is the Small Reservoir Impounding System (SRIS) in Zamora, the dam is not spilling and is at 27.49 meters above the 20 meter critical level.

Another dam in Ubay, Benliw has its water level at 31.36 meters and its critical level is at 26 meters, while the Ilaya SRIS has its water level below spilling at 56.22 meters which is just a little above the 48 meters critical level.

In Tubigon, the Ilijan SRIS is by far at the water level of 35.83 meters above the 35.2 meters critical level.

Even with the dams having low water elevations, until there is a need for water to flow to the farms, then there is yet no need to pronounce the situation as critical, Quirog who explained the government policy elucidated.

Over this, Quirog insists that the best thing is for the cloud seeding to commence anytime soon, so that the watershed could replenish the waters stored in the dams and allow farmers to immediately work on their farms.

Apart from the BSWM fund of P5 million, Bohol Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Council has allocated P2.5 million of its disaster funds to support the proposed cloud seeding operations.

As the PBAC processed on the procurement of the P7.5 million operations, the local agriculture office reported that they have started training technical cloud spotters who could direct the cloud seeding operations to where the seedable cumulus clouds are thick enough to be induced to fall as rain.

With about 4 hours of flying operations a day and possibly two sorties when the conditions are right, Bohol is looking at, at least a month of cloud seeding operations which mandates that trained personnel of the Philippine Air Force are the only ones allowed to run the flight operations.

The OPA also reported some P218 million of agricultural damages since the drought started, although Boholanos were still able to harvest a little bit during the last cropping season.

The OPA also said there was no need to declare a failure in this past cropping season, even with the already widening damage to agriculture and fisheries. (PIABohol)

DIRE NEED. Provincial Agriculturist Liza Quirog said now is the best time to start the cloud seeding operations as farmers are already in the heat of land preparations for the next cropping season. Bohol has obtained some P7.5 million in cloud seeding funds which the local Bids and Awards Committee is currently processing the procurement of the service. (PIABOHol)