Friday, December 29, 2006

Calumpang Dam Totally Destroyed

The Calumpang River Dam which is the main structure of the Santa Cruz-Mabacan River Irrigation System was totally destroyed last September 25, 2006 at the height of Typhoon Milenyo’s fury. The 50 year old dam collapsed because of the unabated river sand quarrying downstream. According to this report, the government will spend 160 million pesos of taxpayer’s money to construct a new dam upstream. It will take the government two years to build a new dam. In the meantime, the rice farmers of Pila will have to install temporary shallow wells to irrigate their rice fields.

President Ramon Magsaysay personally officiated on February 24, 1956 the ground-breaking ceremonies of the P3,180,000 Santa Cruz-Mabacan river-irrigation project at Pila, Laguna.

Pila YouTube Video