Canal expansion has to consider climate change – US engineer

The Panama $5.25 billion of the  Panama Canal needs to take climate change into consideration  a leading engineer said at  major conference in Panama.

Steven Stockton Director of Civil Works Corps of Engineers U.S. Army, speaking at the Congress of Engineering and Infrastructure Panama Canal 2012 said that although there is not a complete understanding of the whole phenomenon of climate change there is a need   to  develop the infrastructure of water resources, whether on land or the sea. 

The Canal must accommodate changes at sea level or, otherwise there would be a major impact on the terrestrial side of the infrastructure. He said that when you make large projects which maintain and operate water resources, dams and rivers change characteristics and  special attention   must be given to the floods that could take place due to these environmental variations.

The expansion of the Canal will  also change shipping routes and traffic patterns, especially for cargo containers.

 The engineering expert explained that when working  on large projects such as enlargement of the waterway, planners must take into account the so-called "study of visibility." Time has to be spent  doing the  studies necessary to know the environmental and economic implications.