The Panama Canal averts a crisis for now. But at a cost to drinking water
Panama Canal has avoided the worst of a shipping crunch that threatened to upend the global economy — but at a cost to marine life and the Latin American country’s supplies of drinking water.
After imposing strict limits on vessel traffic last year as drought left water levels languishing, the Panama Canal Authority is increasing the number of ships that can cross. Thanks to conservation measures, water levels fell just over a foot for the year through March 12, compared with three feet during the same period of 2023.
Those measures, though, come with side effects. The canal recycles water from locks that vessels pass through, instead of simply flushing it into the ocean. This reused water gets saltier, and some of it infiltrates Lake Gatún, an artificial lake that forms part of the channel and is also Panama’s largest source of potable supply.
The Panama Canal’s challenges highlight how combating climate change carries inevitable tradeoffs. As policymakers take action to limit the effects of global warming, there can be unintended consequences for the environment and the economy. And time is of the essence: Drought is already altering the world’s trade flows, creating chokepoints last year on the Mississippi River in the US and the Rhine in Europe. This year, Panama has had roughly two-thirds of its normal rainfall, said Fred Ogden, a former University of Wyoming civil engineering professor who has done extensive work in the country. Upgrades to the canal have made the situation worse, because new locks opened
