Revisiting the canal

 When the canal was being built, the two biggest challenges were mosquito-borne diseases and fierce flooding from the Chagres River. A challenge today is insufficient water!!! On the original canal Gatun Lake fills the top lock, which feeds the middle lock, which feeds the bottom lock, which empties into the Atlantic. Imagining yourself as a young Northeastern engineering graduate saying to her boss: Sir, maybe we should design a way to store and recycle that water instead of letting it just flow into the sea. That young engineer’s granddaughter must have been listened to when the new canal was built because it does have a recirculating system.