Industry: Finding data that breaks down how much of Panama’s total water supply is used for different industries is a lot harder than I thought it would be. The CIA fact book states that construction, brewing, sugar milling, concrete and other construction material manufacture are Panama’s main industries outside of the Panama Canal and Tourism. I’ve found it a bit hard to find any information about Panama’s water issues that aren’t connected to either the Panama Canal or truism. That is an indication of how important both tourism and the Panama Canal are to Panama’s economy. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ aquastat fact page there is no current data about the amount of water extracted for different sectors. The most recent data comes from 1990 and only explains that 23% of water resources were used for domestic and industrial uses and 77% used for agriculture. As shown in this chart:
Compare this with the United States:
In the United States only 6% is used by domestic and industrial while 37% is used by irrigation, but the chart from the U.S. has much more data from more sources.
One possible explanation for the lack of data could be that because of Panama’s tropical climate water scarcity is not a major concern and data collection might be costly and Panama not a very wealthy country. With there not being very much data on how the overall extracted water gets distributed to each sector in Panama I was unable to find any data breaking it down for each industry.
Arguably, the two major industries in Panama: canal operations and the tourist industry do not use that much water. Even though the Panama Canal is made up of a massive amount of water it does not drain any watershed and is replenished by rainwater.
According to the same UN fact sheet, Panama’s main source of pollution is untreated sewage water being released back in to rivers and the ocean.
Municipal and Agricultural use:
As a disclaimer the majority of the data that I found about Panama’s agricultural water use has been translated from spanish using google translate.
The most amount of information about how water is distributed through out Panama came from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations among other things it states that the waters in Panama are recognized as public property of the state. Most of the data form this source is a little dated, but was one of the only resources that I could find that provided useful information. It didn’t provide any information on how water is distributed to people from treatment plants. Most of the data from this source i from 1997 and 1998 and it explains that during that time a lot of the organizations in charge of water distribution were going through the process of privatization.
Also claims that despite how abundant water is and the relatively low demand for it Panama still has issues related to pollution and contamination.
I am assuming that because of it’s tropical climate Panama does not need much in the way of irrigation, which is the reason finding data on irrigating was a bit challenging. In my opinion, growing crops in a tropical region, with it’s fertile soil and abundant rain is probably the most efficient way to grow crops.
Energy and Mining:
According to the CIA world fact book Panama produced 6.546 billion kilo watt hours (kWh) in 2010 and consumed 5.805 kWh that same year. Producing energy from fossil fuels and hydroelectric power plants are Panama’s main sources of energy. Fossil fuels account for 51.6% of Panama’s electric energy production and 48.4% came from hydroelectric plants according to estimates from 2009. It isn’t surprising that almost half of the electricity produced in Panama is hydroelectric, considering how small Panama is and it’s abundance of lakes and rivers. I couldn’t find anything on current tidal power stations in Panama but (energypulse.net) did surmise that Lago de Chirqui and Bahia de San Miguel could both be potential sites for tidal energy.
According to infomine.com two of the largest undeveloped copper deposits in the world are located in Panama. On average Panama produces an estimated 255,000 tons of copper, 90,000 ounces of gold, 1.5 million ounces of silver and 3 million tons of molybdenum. (http://www.businesspanama.com/investing/opportunities/mining.php)
Open pit copper and gold mines are a threat to the rainforests of Panama. Because of the abundance of water in Panama the use of water isn’t a major drain on watersheds but the runoff from the mines is a major source of pollution. The shear amount of rainforest that is cleared for a open pit mine can have dramatic effects on the unique ecosystems of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor and also affect the biodiversity of the region.
This picture shows an open pit mine in the Petaquilla region of the Panamanian rainforest.
As you can see, this mining process strips away the rain forests and effectively annihilates the delicate ecosystems and reduces biodiversity. This particular mine is operated by a Canadian mining company. (http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/petaquilla-panamanian-rainforest-communities-threatened-mining)
This map just shows where in Panama this mine is:
As you can see in this picture there are grass roots movements to try and curtail foreign mining operations in Panama, but with a fraction of the resources available to the mining companies it can be hard for them to make any headway.
Water Resources in Panama 