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Also in this section:
A toucan in the wild
ANAM backs down --- just a bit --- on San Carlos dam habeas data suit
Some flowers on Taboga
 

ANAM: no environmental statement or hearing needed for San Carlos dam

by J. Douglas Allen --- rioteta@gmail.com --- and Eric Jackson

The beaches of Panama Oeste and part of Cocle province are among the most popular, beautiful, and accessible in Panama. They are in danger of extinction. Unlike the threat of the past from the indiscriminate plundering of sand for construction, now there are plans to cut the sand off at its source. That is, to impede the sand flowing from the hills to the beach via the rivers. These beaches are actually rivers in themselves, rivers of sand deposited by fresh water rivers. The beach from Punta Chame to beyond Rio Hato comes from the dormant volcano known as El Valle. While some of the sand is deposited by coastal erosion from the sea, the vast majority comes from the rivers and creeks the drain from the hills surrounding the El Valle volcano. This sand in turn is distributed along the coast and toward Punta Chame by long shore currents. That is why one sees Punta Chame jutting out to sea pointing towards Panama City. Near the river mouths there are sand bars that are popular with surfers, fishermen, and other beach goers. This sediment is deposited during the flash flood crecidas of the rainy season.

Indiscriminate mining of the beaches for construction sand over many years has left a deficit of sand on many beaches. This is evident by the accelerated loss of beachfront property to the sea in recent years. The only way to replenish the sand is to allow the nature to take its course, to let the rivers deposit their sediment on the coast near their mouths, which in turn permits the long shore currents to distribute the sand along the coast.

If one takes sand from the beach or impedes its passage to it, the results are the same: dying beaches and the loss of beachfront property. Yet the ongoing efforts to dam the Rio Teta are proceeding even though the downstream results are predictable.

As you are reading this there is a hydroelectric project being covertly built. Across the highway from Vista Mar is the entrance to a town known as Guayabito de San Carlos. Before the town to the right, just past the trans-Panama power line, across the Rio Teta is where the project ends at the powerhouse. It begins almost two miles upstream, where the dam will close the river this coming dry season.

The couple of artificial floods they plan per year won't help any. The sediment settles at the head of artificial lakes, not the dam. Look where the Chagres River enters Madden Lake: there is so much sediment that it affects the ability of the lake to hold water for canal operations. Thus it should be expected that damming the Teta River in this area would be the death knell for one of the surfers’ favorite breaks, "Tits" Point.

The lake will create high land values surrounding the lake at the expense of the down river land owners. From the Pan-American Highway to the beach is a designated tourist zone, around the dam and its lake is not. The project, Hidroelectrica San Carlos, SA, plans to sell water to Vista Mar's golf courses.

Rio Teta is the last river in western Panama province that has flow all year long. It is born below Cerro Picacho above Coronado in one of the few natural lakes in all of Panama, La Laguna. Its entire watershed is from soil deposited from El Valle volcano, rich in the white quartz crystal and the black magnetite sand we know so well.

The closing of this river will have several negative impacts other than the irreparable beach damage:

·        Land values of anybody near the river, which has many beautiful swimming holes, will decline;

·        A vibrant riparian ecosystem will be turned into nothing but a drainage ditch;

·        Salt water intrusion into the estuary will affect wells in the area of the river and surrounding coast. Forests will be affected by this intrusion, causing something similar to Sarigua, the man-made desert near Parita;

·        The estuary, which is the breeding ground of many species of fish and other sea creatures, will have its natural balance changed in unpredictable ways;

·        If no one has any say in projects like this, especially in designated tourist zones, nobody will feel safe investing in real estate in Panama, and this in turn will affect the entire economy of the country;

·        Surfing, both by local residents and tourist surfers from outside Panama, will be affected;

·        Beachfront homes, some of them quite expensive, will be lost to the sea.

The Panamanian government’s environmental agency, ANAM, has said that it does not have an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) on this project. A habeas data lawsuit requesting the EIS is pending before the courts. After a three-month delay in providing information, ANAM has answered the lawsuit by maintaining that this project does not require an EIS. Furthermore ANAM says this project does not require an EIS, and because of that no public hearings are required.

There are no signs on the highway to indicate this is under construction or how to get to the site, as there are on any other project of this or even smaller magnitude. This might indicate there are none of the inspections and permits by various government entities that should accompany these type of construction projects.

And what is the magnitude, really? A look at the second-hand materials used and low quality of construction casts doubt on whether the electricity generation part of this project is at all serious. The water main meant to serve the Shahani brothers’ golf course community, however, looks reasonably well built. This concession and another possible 32 hydroelectric dam sites were doled out in the last days of the Pérez Balladares administration. For a listing of these see http://www.hidromet.com.pa/potencial_micro.htm, which lists the dam’s capacity at 50 KW (kilowatts) --- 68 horsepower --- but Micro Hidro Development Panama, SA rates the capacity 30 times larger at 1.5 MW (megawatts).

Pictures of this project taken in May of this year can be seen at http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_11/issue_11/outdoors_01.html.

J. Douglas Allen has ridden "Tits" surf break, swum in Rio Teta since the 1960s and owned land along it since 1981. In writing this article he consulted with geologist Joanne L. Stewart and marine biologist Janzel Villalaz. The author’s wife, attorney and former Deputy Minister of Public Works Grettel Villalaz de Allen, is the plaintiff in the habeas data suit referred to in this article

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