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The Panama Canal is still parched, and the solution could costs bns and take years: The drought plaguing the Panama Canal is causing the Panama Canal Authority to weigh potential options including the creation of an artificial lake or cloud seeding, Bloomberg reports. The drought has caused the authority to place a cap of 24 vessels that can traverse the canal daily, down from 38 vessels pre-drought. This has caused many vessels to opt for other routes including the Suez Canal.
Some of the fixes proposed: One of the short-term options considered is releasing water from Lake Alajuela, a secondary reservoir, into the canal, according to Panama Canal Authority water division manager Erick Cordoba. The primary solution outlined by Cordoba, estimated to cost some USD 2 bn and expected to take six years to complete, would involve damming the Indio River and pumping water into the dam’s reservoir. A feasibility study by the US Army Corps of Engineers is underway, the outlet writes.
