Most ads are interactive -- click on them to visit the folks who make The Panama News possible

travel

Photo by Luftbild

A place Panamanian voters need to learn more about

As the October 22 canal expansion referendum approaches, one of the foreign places that well informed Panamanian voters should get to know is the Hohenwarthe Locks on the Elbe River, near Magdeburg, Germany. As you may notice in the photo above, these locks have water-saving basins, as do the ones proposed in the canal expansion plan.

The Hohenwarthe Locks work, no doubt about it. They get ships up and down the river using less water than a conventional set of locks would use.

However, there are some major differences between this German example that's sometimes touted as proof that the technology proposed for Panama is sound and what's contemplated here. For a few examples:

1. The proposed new locks for the Panama Canal would be environmentally sensitive interfaces between bodies of fresh and salt water, while the Hohenwarthe Locks connect stretches of fresh water;

2. The locks that are proposed here are much larger than these ones in Germany; and

3. Here we don't have to worry about the technical problems created by the ice and snow of a northern winter as the Germans do.

The differences would make any campaign slogan about "proven technology" simplistic and deceptive, but on the other hand the similarities would make a contrary claim of "untried technology" just as misleading. Some things would be the same and others wouldn't be, and astute voters would do well to acquaint themselves with the technical issues involved so that they can make intelligent choices.