Gatun

As a result, since last June, the Panama Canal Authority has restricted the number and size of ships passing through the Panama Canal due to low water levels in Lake Gatun, the canal’s main hydrological reserve.

Unlike the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal is fed by a freshwater lake, Lake Gatún, and its water level is falling critically low.

After a choppy boat ride across Lake Gatún, Nelson Guerra, the Panama Canal Authority's hydrologist, points toward a rusted ruler beneath a tower on the western end of the water.

The Panama Canal works by transiting boats through a series of above-sea-level locks fed by Lake Gatún and the smaller Lake Alajuela.

To save more water in rainy months and increase supply in drier times, it wants to dam up the nearby Indio River, and pipe the fresh water into Lake Gatún, the canal's main reservoir.