The drought-hit Panama Canal has announced restrictions on the passage of ships for one year. The canal is facing a shortage of rainwater needed to transfer ships through locks that function like water elevators. VIDEOGRAPHIC
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00:00 [Music plays]
00:06 The 80 kilometre long Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
00:11 [Music plays]
00:13 It takes 6% of world maritime trade or 14,000 ships per year.
00:18 [Music plays]
00:19 Drought driven by the El Nino phenomenon and climate change
00:23 is currently disrupting its operations.
00:26 [Music plays]
00:28 During its construction in 1914, two huge artificial lakes
00:33 were created by flooding mountain zones situated between the two oceans.
00:37 [Music plays]
00:39 They are fed by a river and rain.
00:41 [Music plays]
00:42 The locks are situated at each end of the lakes.
00:45 [Music plays]
00:47 The locks of the canal use fresh water to raise and lower the boats
00:50 according to the principle of communicating vessels.
00:53 [Music plays]
00:55 They discharge part of the water into the sea.
00:57 If the level in the lakes is low, it becomes more difficult
01:00 for the locks to raise the boats.
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01:07 The new locks, added in 2016,
01:10 were designed to discharge less fresh water into the ocean.
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01:15 They have three levels with each one having three recovery pools.
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01:20 During the transit of a boat, the water from the lakes
01:23 flows down into the lower pools where 60% of the water is reused.
01:27 [Music plays]
01:28 Despite this, each transit of a boat still uses 200 million litres of fresh water.
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