Cause of water seepage in new Panama Canal lock discovered

The builders of the new locks will reinforce the sills in all the locks, even where no leaks observed, and still expect to meet their April 2016 deadline, according to a statement from the Panama Canal Authority.    The Panama Canal Authority said the cause of a leak discovered in August in the sill of one of the new locks being constructed on the Pacific side of the waterway has been discovered, but the builders of the new locks still expect construction can be competed by April next year.
   The authority said the consortium building the new set of locks for the canal reports that seepage in the sill between the lower and middle lock chambers of the Cocoli Locks on the Pacific side of the canal “was the result of insufficient steel reinforcement in the area which was subjected to stress from extreme condition testing.”
   The agency said after careful examination of all the other sills in the lock complexes, the Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) consortium stated that in addition to reinforcing the sill that presented the issue, they would also reinforce the first and second sill in the Cocoli Locks and the first three sills in the Atlantic-facing Agua Clara Locks as a preventative measure, though these sills have not had any issues as of yet.
   The GUPC consortium “also verbally indicated that the completion date for the Expansion Project will remain April 2016, as planned; however, the ACP is awaiting formal confirmation from GUPC, in the form of a comprehensive report which should also include the root cause of the detected filtrations,” according to the authority. 
   The Panama Canal Authority said GUPC’s contract “clearly states that the group is responsible for all corrections that may be required. The contractor has an obligation to ensure the long-term performance on all aspects of the construction of the locks and to complete the expansion project following the quality standards established in the contract.”