The Politics Behind Water Scarcity in Colon, Panama

• In Event: National Resource Controversies and Conflicts: Colombia, Mexico and Panama

Abstract

This paper discusses preliminary results of an anthropological research on how local people developed strategies to cope with water delivery problems and claim political participation in the City of Colon, Panama. Colon is the second most important city in the country. It is located in the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. Water distribution is a problem throughout Colon. Delivery is erratic with some neighborhoods experiencing temporary problems, and others having no access to any water service. The water for the population and the functioning of the Canal comes from the same reservoirs that are part of the Panama Canal watershed. There are frequently shortages and the operations of the canal always take priority over the needs of the population. My focus is primarily on women from low-income households, which are the households more affected by water delivery problems. In the city of Colon residents get their water either from community faucet that function a few hours, few days per week; from trucks that deliver water once or twice a week; or by illegally getting water from the city’s hydrants. The lack of home water connections and lack of round-the-clock water service create hardships especially for women. Water development policies and projects, which are always presented as gender neutral, in practice, almost always have gender-differentiated outcomes. I use political ecology to examine the power dynamics surrounding differential access to, and control over water. However, what is less examined is the way that household users’ strategies create openings for political participation.

Author

• Gisela Lanzas