A court ruling could allow the construction of a new reservoir to feed the Panama Canal, whose water level is falling. However, waterway managers said on Monday that the project could take several years to complete.
The Panama Canal has reduced the maximum number of ships that can use the waterway each day due to a drought that has reduced the supply of fresh water needed to operate the locks.
For years, Panama has wanted to build another reservoir to supplement Lake Gatun’s main water supply, but a 2006 regulation prohibits the waterway from expanding outside its traditional watershed. A recent ruling by Panama’s Supreme Court has allowed a reinterpretation of the boundaries, which could pave the way for the work, said canal administrator Ricaurte Vásquez.
« Having a defined watershed gives the Panama Canal a territorial assurance that we didn’t have before, » said Mr. Vásquez.
The authorities will still have to consult the inhabitants of the new site around the Indio River basin and get them to accept the project. Around 12,000 people live in some 200 villages in the region.
Ilya Espino, the canal’s deputy administrator, estimates that these discussions could last a year and a half. Construction could then take three or four years.
Not enough rain has fallen to feed the network of rivers and streams that fill the current reservoir system, whose waters in turn fill the locks that lift ships over the land. The watershed also supplies fresh water to Panama City, home to around half of the country’s 4 million inhabitants.
The reduction in traffic on the canal to 31 ships a day, compared with a normal average of 36 to 38, has disrupted global shipping at a time when other major waterways are also experiencing difficulties. Attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea have disrupted a key global trade route, forcing ships to make longer and more expensive journeys around Africa.
Source: Africanews.
