Due to a massive accumulation of sedimentation, the Ambuklao Dam may have to cease operation, a problem that is the result of the rampant destruction of the surrounding environment. The Ambuklao Dam is located in the Benguet region of the Philippines. Completed in 1956, Ambuklao is the biggest earth-and-rockfill dam in the Far East, build to provide electricity and serve as an irrigation source for the region. The dam was supposed to service the region until 2006, but it may now suspend operation in 1995. When the dam was built, the designers anticipated that 2.6 million cu. m. silt would accumulate each year for the 1st 10 years, but recently, the accumulation rate has hovered around 3.6 million cu. m. Already an estimated 110 million cubic meters of silt has piled up in the water reservoir. Experts blame the problem on massive erosion, the result of the deforestation of the surrounding environment caused by the practices of people: slash-and-burn farming, grazing, logging, mining, quarrying, road-building, and forest fires started by humans. Despite a ban on the cutting of the Benguet pine, a valuable timber for construction, logging has continued. And although mining companies are required to set up impounding ponds and siltation dams, few of them actually comply. These problems have been compounded by the growing numbers of migrants to the region, who come because of the region's work opportunities. Between 1980 and 2000, the population of the watershed region is expected to increase from 134,496 to 231,307 -- a 71.9% increase. Unless the destructive practices are curbed, the Ambuklao dam will soon cease to operate.
