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[av_heading heading=’ Damaged irrigation channel: NIA resorts to temporary fix’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Friday, August 18, 2017
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KALIBO, Aklan – Workers were rushing to fix the damaged channel in a hinterland area in Malinao that sends water from the Aklan River to irrigation canals in the municipality and three others.
Due to the damage and while the repair was ongoing, no water flows to irrigation canals in Malinao, Numancia, Makato, and Lezo – affecting some 4,000 farmers and around 1, 675 hectares of farmlands.
“The channel was damaged by the series of heavy downpour recently,” said Engr. Wilson Rey, head of the Aklan-Capiz Irrigation Management Office of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).
“We hope to create a temporary channel from the mouth of the Aklan River to the irrigation canals,” said Rey.
The engineer admitted that the ongoing repair was a “first-aid solution.”
Rey said they would spend at least P50,000 a month “just to repeatedly make a temporary channel.”
“The Aklan provincial government, through the Provincial Engineering Office, deployed a backhoe to fix the river system,” he said.
But realizing that the small capitol backhoe would be inadequate, the NIA-Aklan requested its regional office in Iloilo City to send bigger equipment.
The NIA assured that there is enough water for irrigation from the Aklan River and the problem is only with the distribution because of the damaged channel.
But “if this continues, rice production in the province may be affected,” said Rey. (PNA)
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