Can the Panama Canal save itself?

America’s most famous waterway is drying up.

Unlike the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal is fed by a freshwater lake, Lake Gatun, and its water level is severely declining.

During a boat trip on the Gatun, Nelson Guerra, a hydrologist with the Panama Canal Authority, points out a rusty ruler under a tower at the west end of the water.

“The level, as seen on the ruler, is 81.20 feet,” he says. “It should be 1.5 meters higher than it is now.”

On the way back, the boat passes old tree trunks sticking out of the water. They were never fully logged during the lake’s original construction. Only a few will appear at this time of year. But in the middle of the dry season, one of them is a forest.

The Panama Canal depends on rainwater, which is in short supply.

A lack of rainfall and an El Niño weather phenomenon contributed to the second driest year in the canal’s 110-year history.

Last October was the driest month on record. The canal area received 41% less rainfall than normalAnd drought threatens to disrupt the US$270 billion worth of goods traffic that moves annually through the shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific.

They have had to introduce water-saving measures, which have meant that fewer ships can pass through the canal each day. Because water from the lake is needed to operate the canal locks.

The number of vessels has been reduced from an average of 36 to 24. Additionally, each ship now carries less cargo due to weight restrictions.

A recession poses a problem for global trade.

In normal times, about 5% of global maritime trade uses the canal, and 40% of US container traffic.

If the route dries up, carriers will be forced to find alternatives, which It will prolong the journey and increase the cost.

And water scarcity isn’t just a problem for global trade. The Panama Canal Authority also provides drinking water to half of the country’s population, including residents of the capital, Panama City.

But those responsible for the canal are taking steps to ensure its viability into another century and beyond.

Ilya Espino de Marota, head of sustainability at the Panama Canal Authority, says they are working on finding solutions to ensure the canal does not run out of water.

“We don’t want it to be a recurring problem. We do not want traffic or tonnage to decrease“, he states.

The authority is taking charge of the development Plans to invest US$8.5 billion in sustainable projects over the next five yearsWhich he hopes can help the waterway survive even as the changes shake the earth.

Regarding climate change, Ilya Espino de Marota states: “Panama is a very rainy country… but we are seeing a pattern (reduced rainfall) that is affecting everywhere. So we definitely have to prepare for the future”.

An obvious measure is water conservation.

The Panama Canal operates by passing ships through a series of locks above sea level fed by Lake Gatun and the smaller Lake Alajuela.

Each ship that passes through the locks uses about 50 million gallons of water, and a handful of new locks built in 2016 — the large neo-Panamax locks — save about 60% of that water.

However, the old Panamax locks are operational, and their overhaul will be a major project. Meanwhile, the Channel Authority Discovered ways to reuse water from locksThis is called cross-filling, which saves the equivalent of six crosses a day.

The authority is also considering building reservoirsTheir first major project since completing a new set of locks in 2016.

To conserve more water during rainy months and increase supply during dry periods, They plan to dam the nearby Indio River and divert fresh water to Gatun Lake, the main reservoir of the canal. The scheme will increase ship traffic to between 12 and 15 a day.

But moving forward will not be easy. The project has yet to receive approval from Congress, and construction will take several years to complete.

Another option is to build a desalination plant. The lack of rain has increased the salinity of lakes and rivers, which are the country’s largest source of drinking water and must be managed. But that option is expensive and requires large amounts of energy to extract salt from seawater.

The possibility of cloud seeding is also not ruled out Expect more rain. Planting large salt particles in clouds to enhance rainfall may seem futuristic, but it has been around since the 1940s.

World trade, which has become more volatile this year, must find a solution to prevent it from becoming more so. Trade volumes through the Panama Canal have fallen 49% from their peak.

Jose Cervantes, general director of the Panamanian branch of Agunsa Shipping Company, says its daily operations have been affected. A breach in the Panama Canal has delayed the shipment of 2 million tons of goods ranging from textiles to food.

The problem, he says, is that there are no other good shortcuts.

Before the current Red Sea crisis, some ships carrying goods from Asia were diverted through the Suez Canal. With that less secure option, demand for rail and road transportation through Panama has increased.

But Jose Cervantes supports them all This unloading and reloading of cargo from ships onto trains and trucks adds to costs

. “And that cost is usually passed on to the customer,” he says.

If the rains come as expected in May, the canal plans to increase the number of ships that can pass through its locks, but that is only a short-term solution.

Changes in rainfall patterns are a reminder of the major impact of climate change on global trade and the long-term future of the Panama Canal.

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