The photo shows the Automated Weather Station (AWS) that DENR National Capital Region installed inside the La Mesa watershed reservation area back in the year 2019.
The AWS is an instrument that measures, gathers, records, and transmits real-time multi-parameter data on local weather conditions. The data gathered helps the regional office—together with its partner organizations managing the 2,659-hectare reservation area—prepare science-based watershed management plans and interventions.
The AWS, along with other watershed instrumentations such as Automated Water Level Monitoring Station and Water Quality Monitoring devices is crucial to the effective management of the La Mesa watershed area according to Regional Executive Director Jacqueline A. Caancan.
“Our water supply in Metro Manila is stored at the La Mesa watershed area prior to its treatment and distribution by water utilities to our houses. it is thus important that we manage and keep the ecology of the La Mesa watershed intact, if not enhanced, so we are assured of our source of potable water”, Director Caancan explained.
The AWS is a combination of solar panel, barometer, rainfall gauge, and Advanced Remote Data Acquisition Unit (arQ)—a device developed by the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). It offers the convenience of unattended, long-term monitoring at multiple remote locations, thereby reducing the time and cost associated with frequent measurements.
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