Delgado\u2019s milk production has fallen by half. As the dry season approaches, he is selling off cattle for fear of what is to come. He says: \u201cI and other producers have had to slaughter or sell animals of high genetic value simply to avoid the heartbreaking prospect of watching them die of thirst or starvation. The lack of water has greatly affected us, and it is going to continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Panama is gripped by a water crisis. A rainy season punctuated by drought, exacerbated by the climate crisis, has ravaged large swathes of the country. El Ni\u00f1o threatens to continue the havoc. In August, the government declared a national state of emergency that will remain in place until June 2027. Authorities forecast rainfall deficits of more than 50% in some regions until December.<\/p>\n
A farmer crosses the Indio River on his horse at Tres Hermanas community, one of the towns threatened by the reservoir project. Photograph: Enea Lebrun\/Reuters<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation is dramatic,\u201d says Panama\u2019s environment minister, Juan Navarro. \u201cClimate change has undoubtedly increased the frequency and also the gravity of El Ni\u00f1o, as well as other climate extremes; we used to get an El Ni\u00f1o every 10 or 20 years. The last, in 2023, cost the Panama canal<\/a> almost a billion dollars in revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n And this latest El Ni\u00f1o, Navarro says, citing scientists, is pointing towards being the worst in history<\/a>. He says: \u201cWe are already starting to feel the impact, but we have seen nothing yet. For Panama, this is life or death. The canal is life and death for our economy, and for our drinking water supply.\u201d<\/p>\n Panama\u2019s economy relies heavily on the Panama canal<\/a> \u2013 and the canal is acutely vulnerable to the climate crisis. The 50-mile (80km) waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, through which about 5% of global maritime trade flows<\/a>, accounts for up to 7.7% of Panama\u2019s GDP<\/a>. The freshwater lakes that supply the canal\u2019s locks, Gat\u00fan and Alajuela, also provide drinking water for about 2 million people \u2013 nearly half of Panama\u2019s population<\/a>. A sizeable chunk of the country\u2019s hydroelectricity generation<\/a> also depends on the watershed.<\/p>\n In September, low water levels twice triggered restrictions on daily vessel transits. While some have been lifted, officials are braced for worse when the El Ni\u00f1o-intensified dry season begins in December.<\/p>\n Ships in the Panama canal in September 2023, waiting for the congestion caused by intense droughts in the country to pass. Photograph: Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The government is funnelling $80m<\/a> (\u00a360m) towards \u201cresilience actions\u201d to prepare for El Ni\u00f1o, Navarro says. In the long term, it is investing about $1.5bn in a reservoir<\/a> on the Indio River intended to supply Lake Gat\u00fan and meet demand for the next five decades.<\/p>\n The new reservoir is, in Navarro\u2019s words, \u201cthe most important investment we are making \u2013 Indio is the ultimate bet on resilience\u201d.<\/p>\n Yet the project has not come without controversy and fierce resistance. Damming the Indio River will flood the lands of 550 families in 38 rural communities<\/a>, about 2,500 people in total, who live in the basin. Cropland will be swept away, graves exhumed and reburied elsewhere, and whole communities \u2013 homes, schools, churches \u2013 will be dismantled.<\/p>\n In response, people have held street protests, taken legal action and set up blockades. Yet the project is steaming ahead; authorities forecast completion in two to three years.<\/p>\n Farmers stage a protest against plans for the Indio River reservoir, Panama City, April 2026. Photograph: Daniel Gonzalez\/Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, this isn\u2019t merely a matter of changing homes,\u201d says Florentino Chir\u00fa, vice-president of the Coordinadora Campesina<\/a> por la Vida Contra los Embalses (Peasant Coordinating Committee for Life Against Dams). \u201cIt means leaving behind the history of entire generations. Furthermore, we would lose fertile land.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Chir\u00fa, farmers rely on small-scale livestock farming for their livelihoods, meaning they would lose their only means of feeding themselves and generating income.<\/p>\n \u201cThe impact would be absolutely devastating. There are no words to describe it. I\u2019ve lived on this land for 63 years; my whole life is here,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we were to be displaced, well, this is our life insurance. We would be left with nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |Every fortnight<\/p>\n Sign up to Global Dispatch<\/p>\n Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features, opinion and photography, curated by our global development team<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The Panama Canal Authority<\/a> says the resettlement will include compensation for homes, land, crops and livelihoods, along with support to restore families\u2019 income sources. It says residents can choose from different relocation options, including moving together to preserve community ties.<\/p>\n A greater supply will not solve all of Panama\u2019s water management and storage problems, though. Experts say<\/a> the current crisis has exposed structural failings in the country\u2019s relationship with water.<\/p>\n An aerial view of Lake Alhajuela, which supplies water to the locks of the Panama canal, at historically low levels in May 2024. Photograph: Ivan Pisarenko\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Despite living in one of the wettest countries on Earth, hundreds of thousands of people still lack access to reliable drinking water. In places such as Azuero, drought is compounding a chronic lack of potable water. By the government\u2019s own estimates, in some areas about 50% of water is lost<\/a> through ageing, leaky pipes.<\/p>\n A recent El Pa\u00eds investigation<\/a> found that 240,000 Panamanians lack regular access to drinking water, and even communities within the canal watershed rely on rainwater, tanks and informal deliveries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a challenge with water,\u201d Navarro acknowledges. \u201cThe number-one challenge is the watersheds. Number two: our water purification and treatment facilities to produce potable water are inadequate. Three, we have a horrendous problem with loss. Because we have such abundant water, we haven\u2019t taken adequate care of it in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with legislation to pave the way for public-private partnerships<\/a> and infrastructure investments, the government has announced an $8.2m emergency package<\/a>, including funding for livestock feed, irrigation equipment and the like.<\/p>\n But for Azuero farmers, rice growers in Cocl\u00e9, and others already grappling with drought\u2019s effects, long-term investments will do little to ease the immediate crisis.<\/p>\n Cattle is seen at Tres Hermanas community in Capira, one of the towns that will be drowned if a project to build a new water reservoir moves forward. Photograph: Enea Lebrun\/Reuters<\/p>\n \u201cIf there is no regrowth during the rainy season, how are we going to sustain the animals during the dry season when there is absolutely nothing?\u201d asks Delgado. \u201cWhat we lose today, we sorely need in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Delgado fears that the cattle population will drop drastically, and rebuilding those breeding herds, whether for milk or meat, will take a long time. \u201cThis combination of problems, compounded by the climate crisis has made the agricultural sector\u2019s situation so dire that we risk disappearing altogether,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792498330_902_500.jpg\")
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