The Panama Canal launched a pilot plan with a desalination plant in Colón.  The purification of salt water began in the town of Escobal, province of Colón, with a supply capacity for about 6 thousand people per day.  The calculation is established by averaging a daily consumption per person of 200 liters, which ensures the consumption of drinking water for approximately 2,500 people residing in that community.  The Panama Canal explained that the installation of the desalination plant is part of a pilot plan that aims to study and test the efficiency and costs of reverse osmosis technology.  In addition, they indicated that the project aims to maintain the quality of drinking water for human consumption.  The project has a six-month testing period established as a test period, and is carried out in coordination with the Institute of National Aqueducts and Sewers (Idaan).   

“The pilot plan will allow experience to be gained in controlled conditions to establish, among other things, the operating costs of water production with this technology, as well as the best practices for its management,” indicated the ACP.  They explained that the Escobal sector was chosen to begin this plan because as a result of the effects of the drought that affected the Canal's operations due to the El Niño phenomenon, the intrusion of salt water resulting from the operation of ship transit has increased its levels in various sections of Gatún Lake, particularly in Escobal, a community that is supplied by an Idaan water treatment plant.  They explained that the project addresses the need to implement long-term solutions to ensure the quantity and quality of water in the lakes of the Panama Canal.