The Panama Canal Authority issued an advisory to inform about the possible draft restrictions due to El Nino Phenomenon in this April. The anticipation is based on the unusually dry rain season and weather forecasts and water consumption estimates for the upcoming months.
ACP says that despite numerous water conservation measures implemented throughout 2015, the El Nino phenomenon brought an unusually dry rainy season to the Canal watershed, impeding Gatun and Alajuela Lakes from reaching their optimum levels prior to the beginning of the 2016 dry season period.
The 2015 Canal Watershed Runoff recorder the second worst in a history of 103 years of systematic hydrological information. Rainfall during 2015 was 36 percent below average and during the last twenty nine months, twenty six of those recorder precipitation below normal. Gatun Lake’s level is currently at 81.75 feet, the lowest on record for this time of the year.
Based on weather forecasts and water consumption estimates for the upcoming months, the Panama Canal is anticipating the possibility that sometime during 2016 draft restrictions may be imposed to transiting vessels.
Source: Panama Canal Authority
