By Osvaldo Rodriguez Martinez at Prensa Latina
Panama, Feb 11 (Prensa Latina) After concluding the carnaval, where fun includes wasting lots of water, Panamanians continue facing an intense drought that puts human consumption at risk.
The uncontrollable expansion of the capital, in whose metropolitan and peripheric areas hold some 1.9 million inhabitants (total population is 3.9) puts water supply sources to the limit, centered at the basin of the Panama Canal.
Three new drinking water plants pretend to extract from Lakes Gatun and Alajuela (the same used for ship crossing) 680 million liters daily extra to try satisfy the insatiable urban áreas, for which these sources pum pone thousand 568 million liters daily.
In this regard, Jorge Luis Quijano, manager of the Canal Authority (ACP) said the two reservoirs cannot be expected to follow growth of urban population in the capital and Colon, second largest city of the country.
Quijano suggested using artificial lake Bayano, east of the capital, where a great potable water potential is only used in fishing and power generation.
Central and South Americans consume 80 to 120 liters of water per person a day, while Panamanians use 365.
However, water distribution does not cover all the population, ratifying the criteria of specialists and authorities that the vital liquid is wasted in water escapes, washing vehicles, garden spraying, retail stores and other activities.
For some experts, the origin of the problem is in the disorganized growth of housing construction, because despite there being a Plan of Urban Development for Panama City and Colon, this is not assumed with legal compulsion, authorities say.
Since February, 2006, the National Assembly passed a law for the territorial organization of cities â??aimed at achieving a harmonic growth of urban centers and give its inhabitants universal accessibility
and better quality of living inside its geographic limits and all of the national territoryâ?Ö.
There are 52 hydrographic basins in Panama, most of them on the Atlantic side, of which only 83 percent of available water is used, reason why many think on the need to dam up that water.
But Felix Wing, secretary of the Ministry of the Environment, thinks
it is necessary to build water transfers from the Atlantic to the Pacific, because it is evident â??we should adapt to climate changeâ?Ö, where the southern part of the country profits less from the rain.
Deforestation, lack of sanitation, bad livestock practices and the severe drought hitting Panama, put at risk today the water volumen and cleanliness of 31 water basins; reports of monitoring by the Ministry of the Environment refer that damages concéntrate in 300 rivers that flow into the Pacific.
One of the solutions is to potentiate biodiversity and forestry resources, besides achieving commercial reforestation and the sustainable handling of forests as a contribution to rural economy.
The specialist in environmental topics, Harley Mitchell, asserted these initiatives â??will not solve the problem by itself, the Ministry must be more strict in handling legal instruments destined to prevent and correct the errors against the environmentâ?Ö.
The water points to the most serious consequence of urbanistic chaos criticized by experts, but the solution should be part of a strategy that includes obligatory application of the Development Plan, as the only way to put a city in order that extends without control from East to West.