Our water system took a lot of planing and digging but so far it has gotten us through the worst droughts Panama had to offer during the past 50 years. Our water system has served us well so far, but recently we came very close to critical water levels and therefore we already started expanding our water storage capacity by digging new ponds.

Our main source of water comes from the manmade wetlands located at the bottom of the farm. These wetlands were dug by hand over a period of 3-4 weeks and can hold a total of 48,000 litters of water. Water is pumped to a settling tank and by gravity water is sent to our main water tanks. Water from the rain catch is also sent to the main water tanks. Any overflow from heavy rains is routed back to the wetlands via several trenches.

The different trenches and swales we dug on the hills surrounding the wetlands make them very efficient at replenishing even with moderate rain events.

Water Monitoring

Despite taking several measures to conserve water, sometimes the unexpected can happen. So far monitoring our water use had the most impact. Almost on a weekly basis we get alerted of running toilets, accidentally open faucets, burst pipes, etc. We have it set to alert us after 10 minutes of the water pump running, and turn off the pump after 15 minutes.

Rainfall data from the Smithsonian weather station in Bocas del Toro during the past 20 years.