But where does the water in the Panama Canal come from?

Well, most of it - more than 80% of it, in fact - comes from the Rio Chagres (or Chagres River). The Rio Chagres is the only river in the world that empties into two oceans.

The river and its tributaries collect up to 200 inches of rain a year. This water flows quickly down the mountainsides and fills a man-made lake called Lake Alajuela. The Madden Dam, which is located on this lake, lets enough water out of the lake to fill the Panama Canal and its locks, and also to generate the electricity needed to operate the canal. The river then continues on below the lake, splitting to flow northwest to the Atlantic and southeast to the Pacific.

That sounds simple enough, right?

In fact, it's a pretty ingenious way to operate the Panama Canal. Unless, that is, something interferes with this natural system.

And that's just what was happening. For many hundreds of years - starting with the Spanish explorers, in fact - the mountains and hills of Panama had been deforested. That means that trees and plants in the tropical rainforests had been cut down to make way for roads or farms.

Deforestation caused two big problems in Panama. First, it destroyed habitat that birds, frogs, insects, and animals needed to survive. And second, it caused erosion that eventually threatened the Panama Canal.

How did that happen?

Well, without trees and plants on the mountainsides, the waters of the Rio Chagres raced downhill even faster than before. With nothing to protect the soil, it eroded, or was swept away by the river. Much of this soil ended up in the Panama Canal, and that meant that the Panama Canal became shallower and shallower.

The Panama Canal had to be dredged to keep working. In other words, the new soil at the bottom of the canal had to be removed. This was difficult work, and not very good for either the Canal or the environment.

Can you think of a solution for this problem?

Well, the people of Panama did. They created Chagres National Park in the area of the watershed of the Rio Chagres. The park, which measures 322,500 acres (an acre is about the size of a football field) protects the river, the rainforest, and the plants, birds, animals, frogs, and insects that live there. In fact, Chagres National Park and nearby Soberania National Park host record levels of different species of birds and animals.

Can you now see how a park could be important for a canal?

Study Questions:

1. Use a dictionary to look up the bolded words in this essay. Write the definition for each word.

2. What other projects are working to save rainforest? You might want to look at the Web site of the Rainforest Alliance at www.rainforest-alliance.org. Write a 1-page paper about what you learn.

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