Zamboanga City Water Reservoir Dam

Creating a Reservoir by building a Dam for Water supply and hydroelectricity

• By: Franklin H. Maletsky, founder of zamboanga.com

Written in January 5, 2000

The Tumaga river is a source of life for the city of Zamboanga. It's water source comes from the great Watershed Reservation. The watershed provides drinking water for the entire Zamboanga City. However, when there is drought, Zamboanga city suffers from low water supply. Then when it rains too much the river floods and causes devastation. Hmmmm. Maybe there is a way to manage this water source. There is! Manage it for the unlimited amount of water supply and for flood control.

The great Tumaga river floods every year. The Watershed Reservation sometimes gets inundated with rain, so the excess water floods the Tumaga river and it's other small river outlets. The Tumaga river flooding is normal. But there is a flooding cycle about every 25-40 years and when this happens, flood waters rises over river banks and into the streets of neighboring lowland barangays (Guiwan, Putik, Tugbungan, Sta.Catalina and more). Properties get destroyed, loss of animal lives and occasionally human lives.

At the source of the Tumaga river which is only about 5 kilometers from the barangay of Pasonanca, the river can be dammed. It is naturally bordered by hills and mountains from 200 to 400 meters high.

By doing this the City of Zamboanga will never ever suffer from water shortages or flooding. There will be enough water supply even for the irrigation of farms. I have lived in Tumaga most of my life and this river never ran dry. The old folks much older than I am, attest to this same fact. The creation of this man-made lake may even be used for recreational purposes and to propagate the local species of fresh water fish for recreational fishing.

There is also a possible second benefit. Hydroelectric power can be generated from this dam.

If there is pro-active planning for this construction, turbines for generators can be planned into the construction of the dam. There will be enough electricity generated from these turbines to provide ample electricity for the entire City of Zamboanga and the Zamboanga peninsula.

If the city does not have the budget for this project, I am absolutely positive that private investors will be lined up to to invest in the construction of this dam. This will give Zamboanga City ample supply of water and electricity.

Imagine that! No more black outs and no more water rationing. Even the farmers will benefit in terms of irrigation.

This is the proposed area of the Reservoir. Mt. Columbato (Pulumbato) will be located to the right of the Dam. It is a natural border. The area of the reservoir (LAKE) will be approximately 4 square kilometers. That is a good sized lake that can conserve all the water during the rainy season. The Tumaga river is known to have very disastrous floods every 30 to 40 years. Not just an ordinary flood but flooding that covers even the streets of Guiwan, Putik and other neighboring barrios. No more flooding incidents. No more lives lost. No more properties destroyed. No more water rationing. No more blackouts.

There will be an extra benefit to this project. It will be an inland water resort. Great for fresh water fishing and boating. Zamboanga City does not have a large inland body of water. We only have ponds. This will be about a 400 to 600 hectare lake. The water level of the lake will be about 150 meters, enough to generate pressure for power turbines to electrify the entire city of Zamboanga.

The reservoir (lake) will be about 400 to 600 hectares.
Mt. Columbato is the marker point for the DAM itself. By comparison this proposed reservoir will be twice the size of Kalayaan Dam (270 hectares only) with the hydro electric capacity of 736 MW. As of 2024 Zamcelco's output is less than 100MW.

---

• Google Map of the proposed reservoir area: