Wastewater treatment plants left in limbo as Panama communities face sewage overflows

In Nuevo Tocumen, green wastewater has flooded the neighborhood park, leaving children without a place to play and residents waiting up to 15 days for the water to recede after heavy rain. The water, residents say, is not rainwater. It is sewage.

The community says the problem began 15 years ago, when the developer that built the homes went bankrupt. Carlos Alexi, a community leader, points to wastewater flowing into a creek as a source of contamination. He says the treatment plant that should have served Nuevo Tocumen, Altos del Ángel and Cántaro 1 and 2 was replaced by a direct pipe discharging into the creek, part of the Juan Díaz River basin.

“When it rains, the sewage overflows and comes back through the bathrooms,” resident Víctor Garrido said, describing the smell and the mosquitoes. Alexi said the supposed treatment area has become a breeding ground for caimans, turtles and mosquitoes, and called it dangerous.

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When it rains, the sewage overflows and comes back through the bathrooms.

José Hopfrien said children using the Nuevo Tocumen park have watched recreational and sports areas turn into contaminated zones. He said mosquitoes and small caimans appear when the area floods, while residents cannot use the park during periods of heavy rain.

Nuevo Tocumen is not alone. TVN Noticias reported that many treatment plants across Panama have fallen into disrepair. In Panama Oeste, eight wastewater discharge points affect the Caimito River and the Jaime Díaz Quintero drinking-water plant, also known as El Trapichito. Karina Camarena of Mi Ambiente said water samples showed fecal coliform levels reaching thousands, compared with a permitted limit of 250.

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The parameters are 250, the permitted limit, and we have found fecal coliforms in the thousands.