Panama Canal begins filling new Atlantic locks

Once the proper water levels are achieved, tests will begin on the new gates’ operations, the canal authority said.    The Panama Canal has begun to fill the lower chamber of its new Atlantic locks.
   “This event highlights the magnitude of what we have been working on for the past seven years,” said Panama Canal Administrator and Chief Executive Officer Jorge L. Quijano, in a statement Thursday. “Filling the locks with water is the culmination of arduous years of labor and the realization that we are within arm’s reach of the completion of one of the most impressive infrastructure projects of our time.”
   During an initial phase of filling, which will take about five days, the canal will gradually raise the water level within the lower chambers of the new locks, pumping in 50,000 cubic meters of water per hour from Gatun Lake. This will allow for testing of the first gates, the canal authority said.
   The same process will then fill the rest of the Atlantic sections of the locks, reaching a water level of 27 meters above sea level. Tests and inspections are expected to take about four months. 
   At the end of May, the overall Panama Canal’s expansion program was nearly 90 percent complete, according to the canal authority.