The Difference Between “Sewers” and “Storm Drains” in Panama City

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com – Many people don’t understand the difference between sewers and storm drains in Panama City, and here’s why. In fact there are two drainage systems, one that’s supposed to handle all of the “black” water and human waste, and another that’s supposed to only handle rain runoff from the streets. However, many times the little rivers and drainage streams that run through the middle of the city smell like open sewer pits, so people often make the mistaken assumption that those streams are either the primary sewage system, or that in fact there is no sewage system in Panama City and all of the human waste just goes straight into the Bay of Panama. The truth is that there is a comprehensive sewer system in Panama City which handles the waste generated by the more than 1.4 million residents every day.
However these little rivers and streams frequently receive contaminated water and materials that are supposed to be handled by the sewer system. The sewer system is severely overtaxed and its infrastructure is crumbling. When a sewer pipe collapses or otherwise becomes blocked somewhere along the system, the sewer water overflows back out onto the street and eventually the water flows, untreated, back into the street drainage system that is only supposed to handle rainwater and runoff. You can see this for yourself all the time – “black” sewer water will come bubbling up and out from a manhole cover thanks to a collapsed or blocked sewage line, including pieces of toilet paper and “floaters” – and then that water simply finds the closest street drain and runs down there, polluting the runoff system with raw sewage. Hence, the confusion. However the two systems are supposed to be separate and the “black” water from the sewage system is not supposed to ever enter the rainwater runoff system, but in fact it happens all the time.

The government of Panama is currently working on a huge project to revitalize this entire system. Aimed mostly to “clean up the Bay of Panama” its secondary impact will be to channel all of the sewer water where it’s actually supposed to go – to treatment plants – and to remove most of the garbage and other pollutants from the rain runoff water before it enters the bay. For example there were many areas of San Miguelito where the sewage pipes from homes simply poured directly into the street drainage system. Years ago when those areas were first built up and neighborhoods were built, the governments of Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega never required the installation of adequate sewage systems. Those old and lingering problems are being addressed, slowly but surely, one connection at a time. Hopefully in a few years once this ambitious project is completed the rivers and streams running through the middle of the city will smell less like open sewage pits, and eventually the Bay of Panama will eventually return to a level of sanitation and cleanliness the residents of Panama City can be proud of.

Right now if you took a dip in the Bay of Panama you’d probably grow a third eye or a sixth finger or something. And, the system will have to be able to handle anything mother nature can throw at it – including the likes of the two hour downpour occurring yesterday afternoon. Anyway, for what it’s worth, Panama City actually does have an underground system to handle sewage and human waste, it’s just severely overtaxed and overflowing. And no, that’s not a snicker’s bar floating down the street… Obviously this project is a priority for the Government of Panama. I thought you might like to know.

Full story and link can be found at:

http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20091113105102325

Tags: rainwater, sewer system, Storm Drains