Filed under: Greenpeace, Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: Climate Change, el nino, Global Warming, Greenpeace, Philippines, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
As I walked in the 5 hectares of land in Brgy. Mangumbali, Candaba Pampanga, I can feel the land crumbling under my feet. The land is so dried that Mr. Numeriano Alabado was not able to harvest any rice crop that he planted in his area. His fields are now full of bigcracks that if you’re not cautious, the soil might collapse.
Their water source is from UPRIS-Upper Pampanga River Irrigation System.Pantabangan Dam is the main source of their irrigation system, because the dam has stopped supplying water due to drought; their rice lands have been destroyed. Almost all the farmers in this town have lost their income due to extreme drought. All of them we’re saying that this was the first time that they’ve experienced this kind of phenomenon.
The local government provided them aid by giving them STW or Shallow Tube Well but its already late to be use for this season because of lack of water. For them, only rain could restore their devastated lands.
A.C. Dimatatac
Filed under: Greenpeace, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: Climate Change, el nino, Global Warming, Philippines, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
We’re on our last day of our travel in the drought affected lands of Central and North Luzon. We went to Brgy. San Isidro in Naguilan, La Union wherein we met some farmers who are members of Pakisama, an organization which is into sustainable agriculture and supports capacity building of farmers in the North.
Mr. Ronaldo B. Calica, a farmer whose crop
s are mainly corn, said that this is the worst drought ever. The sources of water in their area are the small creeks nearby and they are mostly dependent to rain. According to him, the last rainfall they had was when typhoon Pepeng hit the country last October 2009. After that, they didn’t experience any rainfall at all. He normally earns around 10 to 15 thousand pesos from his 1 hectare of corn but now it’s zero balance. He spent too much for the gasoline of his water pump and fertilizers but it was all for nothing because his land got dried up due to insufficient supply of water. He showed us his corn crops that are so small he can no longer use it. Continue reading
Filed under: Greenpeace, Philippines, Stop climate change | Tags: GEI, Green Electoral Initiative, saan galing ang tubig mo, tubig, Water, water watch project
Day 1-19 April
Bgy.Caingin San Rafael
After 8 days of camping out in Angat Dam to monitor the fast receding rate of the water levels, Water Watch Project takes on the surrounding agricultural lands.
The first farmland that the team head on is Barangay Caingin San Rafael, Bulacan. For those farmers who started planting rice last January, their farmlands have already been affected by El Niño. Mr. Leoncio Hernandez, a farmer with 3 hectares of land relay his story by showing his green fields in which the land is starting to dry up due to the scarcity of water. He said that rice crops can still be harvested but it will be mostly just ipas or empty shells. The water source of their farmlands comes from Angat Dam but since the dam stop supplying water for irrigation their rice land now suffers more. During the first week of April they were trying to save their fields by pumping what little water they can from a small creek nearby. But now even the creek is drying up. He said that if they won’t still have water this week, they won’t be able to save their rice crops.
A.C. Dimatatac
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change, Volunteers | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, Greenpeace, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
Greenpeace boat team members, Tomas and Moss show us where our drinking water comes from.
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, Greenpeace, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
When the GMA news crew arrived at camp today, we had to make some quick decisions whether it would be prudent to bring them along with us to try and cross the Kamanoyo mountain to get to the main body of Matulid River on the other side. According to the AWAT rangers, it usually takes Dumagats around 30-45 minutes to cross the forest. But Dumagats are fairly known to move like Spiderman even on the sheer slopes of Angat. We were also told that the last time a band of AWAT personnel crossed Kamanoyo, it took them seven hours, but they didn’t have a Dumagat guide with them that time. Continue reading
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change, Volunteers | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, Greenpeace, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
View of the night sky from the Water Watch Campsite.
Astronomers say that on a clear, moonless night in a place far away from city lights, you should be able to see about 2000 stars. The darker the skies, the more stars you can see. Astronomers have calculated that there are about 6,000 stars potentially visible with the unaided eye, below are images of the night sky at the Water Watch camp, could you count how many stars there are in the pictures?
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, Greenpeace, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
Here are some images on our 4th day on camp:
The Water Watch team.
