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outdoorsAlso in this section:
Will a hydroelectric dam on the Rio Teta affect the San Carlos surfing scene? photos by Eric Jackson Theoretically, there are supposed to be public hearings on major developments that affect public property, for example, a river that creates a sandbar at its mouth, which in turn forms the wave break that sends the ocean rollers off at the proper angle to make a surfing beach. As in the Rio Teta, which flows into the Pacific Ocean near Costa Esmeralda in San Carlos district. For about a year, over a span of about two miles near Guayabito, work has been underway to dam the Rio Teta and a small tributary stream, and workers at the project estimate that it will be another year or more until the dam is ready to generate electricity. The National Environmental Authority (ANAM) has given a permit, apparently back in the Pérez Balladares administration, so there should have been public hearings. But down near the river's mouth, few if any have heard of the project, let alone received notice of any public hearing. The environmental impact study by which ANAM approved the hydroelectric project of Hidroelectrica San Carlos SA, whose president and legal representative is Noel Riande (reputedly a friend of President Torrijos) specifies that the dam can retain 63,072,000 cubic meters of water in rainy season and 6,117,984 in dry season. It also requires the company to open the gates twice a year to create artificial floods that mimic the natural ones that clean the river system. But it's very likely that the reduced flow in the Rio Teta, at least during the period when the company is filling the dam, will mean less sand and silt coming out of the river to form the sandbar that's essential to the surfing conditions. This, in turn, could affect the tourism economy --- national rather than international at the moment, as San Carlos's surfing spots are mostly patronized by young Panamanians.
The Rio Teta --- yes, the "Tit River" to many of the gringos who have visited the place or maintained their beach houses in the area over many years --- is not very big. But occasionally the water level naturally rises, tumbling stones like these and much larger ones downstream.
Here we have a tributary stream in the process of being dammed. The slashing and burning of vegetation to be inundated is actually the ecologically proper way to proceed, as otherwise you'd have rotting trees and shrubs around which silt would collect and from which the products of decomposition would get into the water, limiting its use as habitat for fish.
The water will be taken off the top of the lake to be created, then sent down this long ditch. Walking along the ditch, this photographer noticed cracks caused by settling. It seems that the foundations are not well laid.
The ditch ends at this retaining pond, which is set to grow.
From the retaining pond the water will be piped to a generating station. Like the ditch, this pipe has breaks caused by shifting foundations, and many of the sections are patched, as the materials used in them appear to be used. From the generating station the water will be spilled back into the regular watercourse, about two miles south of the dam.
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