Re:'It's All Happening Again.' The Supply Chain Is Under Strain
by AnimalMuppet on Monday June 24, 2024 @02:02PM
(#40778964)
I think you're missing that, when you go down, the water flows out into the lower level waterway, not into a holding tank. It therefore cannot be re-used to raise the level in the same lock again. Water goes from the upper level to the lower level only. So you need a supply of water at the upper level.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:'It's All Happening Again.' The Supply Chain Is Under Strain
by bobthepanda on Monday June 24, 2024 @02:04PM
(#40778983)
also, the lakes in the middle are freshwater, so pumping water back in from the sea would destroy the lake's ecosystem and any sort of supply hooked up to it expecting fresh water, which is not in the interest of the Panamanians.
Re:'It's All Happening Again.' The Supply Chain Is Under Strain
by HarHarVeryFunny on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @07:54AM
(#40798899)
What I was missing is that in the Panama canal the high point is in the middle, not at one end, so the water flow is from middle to both ends.
In a normal lock system (e.g. typical British canal) the water flow is from the high end of the entire set of locks to the low end, so gravity does the job, and the water supply at the high end is replenished by whatever it is connected to (river or lake).