Panama Canal

[Trimone]

Looks like the Panama Canal is running low on water:

Panama City, Panama, January 13, 2020 - Due to changing rainfall patterns and historic low water levels at Gatun Lake, the main source of water for the waterway, the Panama Canal announced today that it will implement a series of new measures beginning February 15 to sustain an operational level of water and provide reliability to customers while it implements a long-term solution to water

[spanishguy1970]

oh goodness. Our cruise to the Panama Canal is in April.

[Love my butler]

Much like man-made climate change, this is much ado about nothing.  There is plenty of water for the canal to operate.  This is just a temporary dry spell so they are making sure there will be no closures.  The PC is the lifeblood of Panama.

[MeHeartCruising]

This topic was mentioned by the narrator hired to speak during our partial traversal on the Pearl in November.   Each time the ocean-facing locks are used, water from the lake escapes to the sea.  Through time, this drains Lake Gatun if it is not adequately replenished by rainwater.  The population growth in Panama City also apparently contributes to the lowering of the Lake.  If I understood it correctly, the new locks are designed with holding ponds that allows water to be used 3 times instead of 1 for each gate process (as the older locks do).  This helps a little.   If the water levels aren't adequate, they also have (in the past) restricted the carrying weight of ships so they don't ride so low in the water.

Edited January 18, 2020 by MeHeartCruising

[BillB48]

The measures that they have announced for February largely consists of a water surcharge. The surcharge will involve charging more for a ship to transit... bet you didn't see that one coming!😉  What I have been told is the primary purpose of the surcharge is to "discourage" smaller ships from using the Canal as much.  Since it takes the same amount of water to lock a rowboat through the Canal as it does a huge bulk carrier, they want to use the water wherever it will get the biggest bang for the buck.

 

I think blaming climate change for everything is a bit premature.  This is the 5th lowest wet season in terms of total rainfall over the Canal's watershed since records were kept.  Rainfall was about 20% lower than normal, while not an ideal situation, it has been drier 4 times previously.  There have been discussions over the years about the need to provide additional sources of water for Gatun Lake, perhaps now these discussions will lead to something.  Among the items discussed are additional reservoirs and desalinization of sea water.  Reusing the water in the new locks is of course being done with the water saving basins and taking extra lockage time at the original locks to reuse water before it is spilled to sea is now being done.  The reusing of water is not the magic bullet however, as salt levels of Gatun Lake have begun to increase.

 

The Canal has always reduced the draft restrictions in the past to adjust for the lake level.  All the work that coincided with the third set of locks has proven to be beneficial for the original locks also.  The main channel was deepened in preparation for the new larger ships.  This deepening has enable the Canal to maintain 39'06" for much of the year.  Without that deepening the Canal would have already had to put in place stricter draft restrictions (for ships using original locks) at the lake's present level.  

Edited January 18, 2020 by BillB48