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Posted 09.01.2010

State of the state: natural resources

Broomfield-based MWH takes on the Panama Canal

By Mike Cote

Broomfield-based MWH is leading the design for a $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, touted to save fresh water by 60 percent. MWH is a "wet infrastructure" company with an international reach. We recently talked with MWH President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Krause about the project.

ColoradoBiz: Tell us about what MWH is doing in the Panama Canal. It's a huge project, and you're one of the two U.S. companies involved.

Alan Krause: Our role has been as the lead designer for the new set of locks that are being constructed and designed in Panama. They actually started in 1939, and they were suspended because of the war. Now we're taking that early excavation and design, and we're advancing it into a much more sustainable and efficient system. It's one of the biggest civil engineering projects in the world today.

CB: You're using 60 percent less water with the system you're designing. How are you accomplishing that?

Krause: The fresh water that comes into the locks was wasted and not reused in the original locks. The new design is to use water-saving basins, which allows us to reuse the water and recoup about 60 percent of that water so you're not wasting fresh water. The fresh water element is required because you have a freshwater lake between the two locks on the Atlantic and the Pacific side. It is a wildlife preservation that is remarkable. It was our responsibility to preserve the water in the locks themselves.

CB: This is a long, complicated project. How long have you been in the planning  for this?

Krause: We actually started working in Panama on this set of locks in 1939, so that was over 70 years ago. At that time, they were designed to provide a second level of security when the Panama Canal was owned and operated by the U.S.  government. This process was solicited by the Panamanian Canal Authority last year. We were awarded the project as part of a design build in July of last year, had some very intense negotiations for about six months, and then we started work right around the first of the year. The plan is to have the canals designed and then the new set of locks designed and completed by 2014 - which is exactly 100 years since the first canal was completed by the U.S. government.

Mike Cote is the editor of ColoradoBiz. E-mail him at mcote@cobizmag.com.

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