On July 2, Panama’s highest judge upheld a law that had impeded the construction of a new pond to support the Panama Canal meet its water needs. The Ministerial Conference of the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama ruled that Law 20 of June 21, 2006 was unlawful, restoring a 1999 laws that established the limitations of the canal’s geological lake.
The shift allows the Panama Canal Authority to carry out conservation of water sources in areas that are not directly connected to the river, allowing the development of a tank on Rio Indio, which is located east of the lake.
According to recent reports by ACP and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the new reservoir may supply the canal’s and the nation’s growing water needs for the next 50 years. The project, according to officials, would cost about$ 900 million and be finished in five years.
Canal authorities stated in a statement following the decision that they would take action to protect the nation’s water resources, but they did not specifically mention the proposed tank.
The Board of Directors of the Canal and its Administration may work with President José Raul Mulino’s leadership to find long-term answers to the Panamanian water problems, guaranteeing the supply of water that is both necessary for the consumption of the populace and the operation of the interoceanic route, according to the speech.
The attorney who filed the lawsuit challenging the 2006 laws, Publio Cortés, asserted in a speech that ACP you move forward with the project to increase river water source.
He said,” Owing to this determination, the legal foundation is required for the Panama Canal Authority to carry out the engineering works necessary to improve the water resources for the functioning of the lake,” adding that” climate change requires.”
The need for fresh water sources for both the canal and the country increased last year as a result of a historic drought and El Nio conditions that caused precipitous drops in the water levels of Gatun Lake. Officials at the canal were forced to start a series of water conservation initiatives and drastically reduce transit times.
The proposed Rio Indio reservoir is outside of the canal’s current watershed..
Map by Scott Hilling/ENR, original inset map by Getty Images
The law from 2006 that authorized the construction of the canal’s new locks forbade the construction of reservoirs outside of its watershed.
Cortés argued that the ACP board of directors ‘ authority to make any changes to the geographic perimeter of the watershed was mandated by Panama’s constitution. Since the 2006 law was produced by the national assembly and not by the board, it violated the country’s constitution. The current Environment Minister, Juan Carlos Navarro, and another lawyer Juan Ramón Sevillano also filed a similar claim before the court in January.
ACP officials submitted a proposal to the Panama government in September to create the Rio Indio reservoir. It requested that the National Assembly increase the size of the canal’s operating limits beyond those established by the 2006 law. That request is no longer necessary, Cortés says.
” In this case, repealing the Law of 2006 was declared unconstitutional by the Plenary of the Court …]and ] the Boundary Law of 1999 returned to force”, he said.
Recent increases in rainfall have improved the conditions on the waterway. Canal officials announced last week that the maximum draft permitted on July 11 would increase to 47 and the number of transits through the neopanamax locks would increase to 35 per day starting on August 8th.
Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez Morales stated in a statement on June 26 that the effects of climate change are still a significant issue for waterway operation.
The anniversary “is different from the previous ones because we have had to adapt our operations to the drought conditions, which are a result of the climatic variations that affect the levels of the Gatin and Alhajuela lakes,” he said. ” During this critical period, we have sought the well- being of the population, guaranteeing the supply of drinking water and, on the other hand, ensuring the reliability of the service to our clients”.
