Panama’s Water Crisis Needs to Invest $1 Billion a Year for a Decade.
Panama is surrounded by water. Que pasa? Pictured below is María Eugenia, a Senior Specialist in Water, Sanitation, and Solid Waste Division at the IDB in Panama. Today, the country allocates only about $350 million annually, 35% of what it requires, while backlogs accumulate in networks, water treatment plants and sanitation systems.
Panama needs to invest $1 billion annually in water and sanitation, but only allocates about $350 million. This means the country covers only 35% of its needs, leaving a shortfall of approximately $650 million each year to address an infrastructure that has suffered from decades of neglect. The lack of that other 65% translates into concrete results: less capacity to repair and expand networks, rehabilitate water treatment plants, reduce leaks, and extend sanitation systems.
In a sector that has suffered decades of deterioration, the lack of investment not only delays new projects; it also increases the cost of maintaining an aging infrastructure while pressure on water sources grows. The structural and financial gap was raised by María Eugenia de la Peña, the leading water and sanitation specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Maria’s speech at the Industrial Symposium on Sustainability, Energy and Water, was organized by the Union of Industrialists of Panama (SIP), in Panama City.
María Eugenia is a Senior Specialist in Water, Sanitation, and Solid Waste Division at the IDB in Panama, where she leads dialogue with the government on water resources management, urban and rural water and sanitation, stormwater drainage, and solid waste management. Since 2011, she has participated in the design and implementation of water and sanitation.
