Villagers are wary of plans to dam a river to ensure Panama Canal's water supply
The Panama Canal Authority is reaching out to communities that could be impacted if the Indio River is dammed to make a new reservoir ensuring the water supply needed to operate the Panama Canal
EL JOBO, Panama (AP) — A long, wooden boat puttered down the Indio River’s chocolate waters carrying Ana María Antonio and a colleague from the Panama Canal Authority on a mission to hear directly from villagers who could be affected by plans to dam the river.
The canal forms the backbone of Panama’s economy, and the proposed dam would secure the water needed to ensure the canal’s uninterrupted operation at a time of increasingly erratic weather.
It also would flood villages, where about 2,000 people would need to be relocated and where there is opposition to the plan, and curb the flow of the river to other communities downstream.
Those living downstream know the mega-project will substantially alter the river, but they hope it will bring jobs, potable water, electricity and roads to their remote communities and not just leave them impoverished.
