The Panama Canal Water Filtration Plants. State of the art of the early 20th century and the early 21th century. Key elements for the Panama Canal Operations
Name: Luz Meneses, Eric Vicente Rodriguez, Luis Santanach B
PANAMA CANAL AUTHORITY
WATER DISTRIBUTION PACIFIC
507-276-8674
SPEAKER: to be announced
e-mail lmeneses@pancanal.com , EVRodirguez@pancanal.com lsantanach@pancanal.com
Despite the continuous changes on regulations and engineering state of the art on Water Works Panama Canal Filtration Plants cope with these demands enforced by the local laws and engineering technology.
Introduction
The Panama Canal Authority (PCA) owns three Water Filtration Plants. One on the Atlantic Side named Mount Hope (1914) and two on the Pacific Side, Miraflores (1915) and Mendoza (2010).
Having a Water Filtration Plant is a privilege that very seldom someone will find in marine facilities such as ports, navigation channels, marinas, ferry structures. But having three, people will be skeptical of this statement. Well, The Panama Canal is the exception to the rule.
These three plants, besides providing potable water to Canal Operations, they provide water to the adjacent communities and partly the two main cities of the Republic of Panama. This is a pride that every company must brag about it.
The main purpose of any water treatment plant (water filtration plant) is produce water that is safe for drinking. This means, water free of chemical and biological organisms that may cause harm to humans to the point of developing an epidemic.
The early decades of the 20th century and the 21th century brought state of the art technology on the field of water treatment engineering. The Panama Canal took advantage of it.
Once built The Canal organization has kept a systematic operation and maintenance plan, year after year, to maintain the 1900´s plant in good shape.
Beside, innovation took place with the newest plant, Mendoza that began operation in 2010 bringing into the scene the dissolved air flotation technology.
Miraflores and Mount Hope.
The two filtration plants were design to process raw water with the conventional treatment process; the treatment is accomplish with chemical products for coagulation, flocculation, odor and taste control and for disinfection.
The infrastructures have a gravity process starting at the aeration basin, continuing on sedimentation basins, and finishing on the filters pools. Both plants receive their raw water from Gatun Lake. Mira Flores intakes are located at Paraiso and Gamboa where raw water is pumped to the PLANT. Mount Hope, in the Atlantic side, has the advantage to receive its raw water by gravity.
For over more than a century, safe and good quality water for human consumption has been provided continuously to the canal operating areas, the communities alongside de Canal and to Panama a Colon Cities . The biggest change in infrastructure during these time was accomplished in Miraflores where six (6) filters were added in the early 1940´s at the same time, the clear well was expanded accordingly with the capacity to be discharged by the new filters.
Both plants sand filters, due to increase in potable water demand from these plants, the filters were renovated in the late 1970´s, anthracite was incorporated over the sand, the filter layer design was resized and a surface wash water system was installed.
Treatment up to this time remains conventional on most of the stages, aluminum sulfate, liquid chlorine are the primary chemical products, activated carbon is used, fluoride addition is required by the Republic of Panama law, Miraflores uses polymers in different times of the year when process results show that its use is cost effective and efficient in the quality of the water in process.
Reservoirs are part of a distribution system that mostly has pumping stations, pipelines for filling tanks and transferring the water to the city of Panama at points designated as “delivery points” that also serve as the boundary for Canal responsibility which ends at these points.
The outside view of these centennial plants remind the typical architecture from the past, however inside them the new technology has been incorporated by means of monitoring instrument, remote control for pumps and valves, electronic devices an equipment, pressure and level sensors, all interconnected to a Supervisory and Data Acquisition System (SCADA) that provides real time information for water treatment operators from Miraflores, Mount Hope and Mendoza.
Mendoza Filtration Plant
Innovation from the rest of the word anchored at Mendoza with the dissolved air flotation technology for treatment of the Gatun lake water that being the same lake providing water for the three plants operated by the Canal, offers slight differences in raw water quality at the Mendoza raw water intake, letting the new technology do their best at this plant.
Demand and Challenges
Potable water production demand covers the three Locks along the Panama Canal as well as all Canal Operation Facilities and Administrative offices .
Potable water is also use for the Chilled Water Plant, and Canal operation Fire Fighting Stations.
External demand represents 95% of the total potable water produced by the Panama Canal. Wholesale the potable water to the Panamanian Institute of Potable and Sewerage Waters (IDAAN), who is responsible for the distribution system to the final customer.
A new challenged arrived during the Canal Expansion Program, providing potable to ACP workers during a nine (9) year–period. This challenge continues with the new Locks and other facilities.
Despite the difference in age water filtration plants have proven flexibility with the changes in water quality and drinking water regulation through years.
The presentation will show history, construction, operation, comparison, as well as data proven that all of them comply with the local regulations.
Trained Personal
Human factor remains as a critical element to assure the good operation of the three plants, administrative and technical teams work together to make sure potable water complying with regulation requirements is always available for the consumers.