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They are likely to run out of drinking water before most other countries since they lacked the sense to build a pipeline alongside the canal to provide water for its operation instead of relying on fresh water from lakes.

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From what I read, it was the French and English who built the Panama canal, so that was their design error.

Panama gets over 200"/year of rain which is about the same as Hawaii, and 10 times more than most of the US, so they are not lacking for water!

Their water management does need improvement though.

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"France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped because of lack of investors' confidence due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal in 1914." Wikipedia

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Then explain why their lakes are looking a lot like Lake Mead and Lake Powell right now.

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My Panamanian wife says they got less than the normal rainfall in 2023, so that may just be a temporary situation.

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Is she a Panamanian meteorologist?

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No, she is way better than a so called "meteorologist", since she actually lives there for the winter, and knows how the weather is for over 60 years! Would you trust a so called "meteorologist" more than that? Not me!

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In the absence of vast instrumentation, few know the weather outside a day's walk from their home.

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