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 youâre 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
Weâre 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 itâs 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 NiÃąo. 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 didnât 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.
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
The water level in Angat Dam breached the 180 meter above sea level (masl) critical point at around 3pm on April 13, and we got word that it finally made the news headlines this morning.
A news crew from the GMA network, led by reporter Cesar Apolinario, visited the camp to do interviews and take some shots of the things that were going on in the watershed. They arrived in the afternoon and had to rush to make the deadline for the evening news.
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
14 April 2010
Dried up water tributary.
Itâs the third day here at the Greenpeace Water Watch Camp in Angat Dam. The night before had been a very clear, starry evening, unlike the previous drizzly night, but the day saw a spectacularly hot summer sun alternating with windy downpours â it was as if Mother Nature herself was showing the classic symptoms of someone having a fever.
Well, maybe she was.
I canât help but feel a bit down today, unlike yesterday. Maybe Iâm just in need of a bathâĶIâm not really sureâĶ
Filed under: Life at work, Philippines, Project Clean Water, Stop climate change | Tags: angat dam, Climate Change, el nino, GEI, Green Electoral Initiative, Greenpeace, greenpeacebuzz, nawasa, Philippines, poso, saan galing ang tubig mo, san galing tubig mo, summer, tagtuyot, tubig, Water, water crisis, water scarcity
One of the volunteers waterproofing the camp.
Early this morning our sleep was cut short by what started out as a drizzle of rain that suddenly became a shower that caught us all by surprise.
Our day started with putting things under the makeshift shed that was hastily created to waterproof our sleep area as well as our electronic equipment. Everyone scrambled to put up some tarps and waterproof our gear and equipment. In the middle of the rain some of us tried putting up a rain gauge to measure the precipitation levels.
Continue reading
