Water level at the Bago River Irrigation System in central Negros Occidental has dropped due to the hot weather, Rosemary Cuanca, president of the Federation of Irrigators Association, said yesterday.

Cuanca said that, normally, during the summer season, water level at the BRIS reduces but it does not dry up.

With the water level at the BRIS dropping, the management of the irrigation system had to schedule the ration of water to about 13,000 hectares of rice fields in Bacolod, Bago and La Carlota cities and the municipalities of Pulupandan, Valladolid and San Enrique, she said.

Aside from scheduling the ration, the National Irrigation Authority, in cooperation with the Negros Occidental Provincial government, is installing water pumps in several areas to boost water supply, Caunca said.

She said the rain experienced by the province last week helped boost the water level at the BRIS.

There are 44 irrigators associations for about 8,900 farmers in central Negros Occidental.

Reports from the Provincial Disaster Management Coordinating Council show that the temperature in Negros Occidental reached 33 degrees Celsius last week. *APN

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