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It is not just C&RT : "Canal grapples with climate change threat"


Alan de Enfield

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Global warming and changing weather patterns are affecting the water supply for one of the world's most important waterways, the Panama Canal, as well as access to drinking water for millions of Panamanians, reports journalist Grace Livingstone from Panama City.

The Panama Canal is a great feat of 20th-Century engineering.

Upon its completion in 1914, this man-made waterway linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans nearly halved the travel time between the US West Coast and Europe.

To this day, ships have to pass through a series of locks to overcome the differences in height along its 50-mile (80km) length. They are lifted up to 85ft (26m) above sea level before being lowered again.

The canal's locks act as a kind of elevator, using enormous amounts of water released from artificial lakes at the top of mountains to raise the vessels, explains Mahelis de García, a Panama Canal guide.

 

Panama Canal grapples with climate change threat - BBC News

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Those new locks that they built last decade are pretty bloomin' big

 

'The new lock chambers are 180 ft (54.86 m) wide, 1,400 ft (426.72 m) long, and 60 ft (18.29 m) deep.'

 

A bit of back of the fag packet maths says you could fit around 500 x 70' narrowboats in each one!

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4 hours ago, BilgePump said:

Those new locks that they built last decade are pretty bloomin' big

 

'The new lock chambers are 180 ft (54.86 m) wide, 1,400 ft (426.72 m) long, and 60 ft (18.29 m) deep.'

 

A bit of back of the fag packet maths says you could fit around 500 x 70' narrowboats in each one!

Are they recruiting Vlockies?

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11 hours ago, BilgePump said:

Those new locks that they built last decade are pretty bloomin' big

 

'The new lock chambers are 180 ft (54.86 m) wide, 1,400 ft (426.72 m) long, and 60 ft (18.29 m) deep.'

 

A bit of back of the fag packet maths says you could fit around 500 x 70' narrowboats in each one!

 

My thought were similar. I do wonder if this is really a climate change issue or simply that they now have much bigger locks and thus need a lot more water?

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20 hours ago, BilgePump said:

Those new locks that they built last decade are pretty bloomin' big

 

'The new lock chambers are 180 ft (54.86 m) wide, 1,400 ft (426.72 m) long, and 60 ft (18.29 m) deep.'

 

A bit of back of the fag packet maths says you could fit around 500 x 70' narrowboats in each one!

 

9 hours ago, jonesthenuke said:

 

My thought were similar. I do wonder if this is really a climate change issue or simply that they now have much bigger locks and thus need a lot more water?

 

Do what CaRT do and recommend that boaters share locks. If the Panama Canal Vlockies wait till there are 500 narrowboats in the chamber before operating each lock it will save a lot of water.

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2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

 

 

Do what CaRT do and recommend that boaters share locks. If the Panama Canal Vlockies wait till there are 500 narrowboats in the chamber before operating each lock it will save a lot of water.

If they wait for just one narrowboat they will save as much water!

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4 minutes ago, Mike Todd said:

If they wait for just one narrowboat they will save as much water!

Not when they operate the lock 500 times for 500 narrowboats. 500 locks of water vs 1. I do know the number and size of boats in the chamber makes no difference in water used for each cycle. The panamax ship behind them will just have to wait!

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Not when they operate the lock 500 times for 500 narrowboats. 500 locks of water vs 1. I do know the number and size of boats in the chamber makes no difference in water used for each cycle. The panamax ship behind them will just have to wait!

Gotcha but Sorry I missed off the smiley - think: just how many narrowboats are there on the Panama Canal?

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On 11/08/2022 at 21:15, jonesthenuke said:

 

My thought were similar. I do wonder if this is really a climate change issue or simply that they now have much bigger locks and thus need a lot more water?

Just another journalist who knows nothing about the subject they are writing about. The real problem is people believe it.

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2 hours ago, oboat said:

Just another journalist who knows nothing about the subject they are writing about. The real problem is people believe it.

But the story is credible and very similar to much of our network: if the lakes (reservoirs) feeding the lock flight run short of  water through a lack of rain (not much else from where it could come save for ginormous back pumps) then the canal will close. I can believe it is possible! (not saying that makes it true)

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