El Niño will still be felt in Phl – Pagasa

The intense effects of El Niño will still be felt in the country in the coming months even if global forecasts show that it is starting to wane, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said yesterday.

Anthony Lucero, chief of the PAGASA’s Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section, urged concerned agencies, local government units and the public to continue to take measures to mitigate the effects of El Niño like conserving power, water recycling and rainwater harvesting.

“Let’s conserve water. If we have rain, let’s catch it. Let’s take advantage of the rain while we still have it, while we are yet to reach the peak of the dry season. Laundry water could also be recycled to flush the toilet,” Lucero said in a radio interview.

“By the time we’re in the middle of the dry season, we’ll experience some water lack so we should prepare now so that the adverse effects won’t be much,” he added.

El Niño is the abnormal warming of the sea surface temperature in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean and is characterized by below normal rainfall.

Lucero noted that the water levels in major dams started to drop due to absence of rain, but he assured that the water supply at Angat Dam in Bulacan is expected to last through the dry season.

Angat supplies 97 percent of Metro Manila’s water demands. Rains from Typhoon Nona (international name Melor) have filled up major dams in Luzon late last year.