An Introduction to the Panama Canal Watershed

The Panama Canal Watershed is a hydrologically complex, ecologically diverse managed natural-artificial managed water resource system composed of many sub-basins, rivers, and dammed lakes extending across 2,982 km

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on both sides of the Panama Canal. The upper Río Chagres basin is the largest headwater unit in the watershed, occupying about one-third the total area but supplying almost half of the water needed for canal operation. Total runoff across the watershed is such that there is inadequate input of water during low-flow years to provide the all of 4.1×10

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m

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of water needed to operate the canal, generate electricity, and provide public drinking water. At present, forest preservation is arguably the most important water resources management issue for the Panama Canal Watershed because deforestation causes enhanced soil erosion and reservoir sedimentation and also strongly affects the timing of the runoff. Overall, prospects for the long-term sustainability of the water resources of the Panama Canal Watershed are good, given the large percentage of land within the watershed that is federally protected. However, the challenge for the immediate future is to develop and enforce a consistent set of informed and enforced land management to ensure that the water resources will continue to be available to operate, if necessary, and expand the Panama Canal for the benefit of Panama and the world.