Dam, that’s a lot!

The Pampanga River Basin (PRB) houses more than 10 dams and reservoirs that serve a variety of functions.

The Masiway Dam is a re-regulation dam located directly downstream of Pantabangan Dam. It regulates the discharges of the large hydroelectric power plant.

At least eight small water impounding projects (SWIPs) are located in Talugtog, Nueva Ecija. These SWIPs in the northwest part of PRB harvest rainfall for irrigation.

The Aulo and Fort Magsaysay Reservoirs in Nueva Ecija are small water storages also used for irrigation. Another irrigation project near these two is the Peñaranda River Irrigation System which is a run-of-river dam. Cong Dadong Dam in Arayat, Pampanga is also another run-of-river dam used for irrigation.

The larger reservoirs and dams in PRB are used for domestic water supply, flood control, hydropower generation, and irrigation purposes.

Pantabangan Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam in Nueva Ecija. It is a multipurpose dam which became operational in 1977 that is used for irrigation, hydropower generation, and flood control purposes. The reservoir has a gross capacity of about 3 million cubic meters (MCM) and has a life expectancy of 107 years.

Angat Dam is an earth and rockfill embankment dam in Bulacan. It is known for its water supply, hydropower, and irrigation functions. It became operational in 1968 and initially had a life span of 50 years. Recent rehabilitation extends this for another 50 years. The reservoir has a capacity of about 850 MCM. It is widely known as the major source of water for Metro Manila.

Ipo Dam is a gravity-concrete dam in Bulacan, just 7.5 km downstream of Angat Dam. It diverts water from Angat and Ipo Rivers into tunnels leading to La Mesa Reservoir and Balara Treatment Plants for supplying water to Metro Manila. It was completed in 1984 and has a capacity of about 7.5 MCM.