Improper mantanice by South Americans

The Panama canal is a couple of hundred feet above sea level and is fed by rivers ( springs and rain water ) that gets out into the ocean with every use of the lock on either side. Since the locks have been made bigger to cater for the larger ships these days that want to go through the canal and its general expansion, the powers that be have flat out ignored the fact that the water supply to the canal is finite and happily dug away to allow for more and larger shipping ... now the lack of foresight is biting them in the stern. Another example that planning using wishful thinking as your main parameter seldom works out to well in the end.

My Sis was told the lifespan for today's appliances is 3.5 yrs. My Bro has two broke freezers that are less than 3 yrs old. Many of us have freezers over 20 yrs old working fine

Excellent summary scuba1

And a lot of the ones still working were made in IA

The highest point on the Panama Canal (man-made Gatun Lake) is 85' above sea level. There are six locks, three up and three down. They are side by side so ships can travel both directions at once so there are really twelve locks (six paired locks).

It takes 26,700,000 gallons to fill one lock. The water is taken from Gatun Lake and used in the lock below the lake, then the next lock, then the last lock and then discharged into the ocean. They have been building huge holding chambers in recent years to recover some of the water.

There is normally more than enough rainfall to keep Gatun Lake full or to refill it after the dry season but Panama and the surrounding areas have been experiencing severe drought for several years.

Nobody "Gave" it away. The deal with Panama was title would revert back to Panama after so many years. When that contract expired we contractually had to return it to the country whose land it was/is.

My Aunt and Uncle have a freezer they bought when they were first married in the 50's, still works great!

I forgot to mention. Its Trumps fault

Thank you for the explanation!

Silly question it could be dry when ever need to be, all has to be done is close the locks, remember it was not there for a long time, LOL

Yes sir and probably needs a lot of dredging