Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC)said the flooding of each sector can take between three to four months and flooding each chamber between four to ten days.
"Flooding is a long process, so the test runs of the new locks will last until early 2016," said Giuseppe Quarta, ceo of GUPC.
On the Pacific side, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) provides 40 cu m of water per hour from Lake Miraflores to the interior of the new locks. "The verification of the 8 gates on both the Atlantic and the Pacific sides, have been very successful. On the Atlantic side, we have already started to flood again to test the gates 5 and 6," said Quarta.
Last June, water tests began and filling of the lower chamber of the new locks of Agua Clara, at the Atlantic entrance of the waterway, leading to operational testing and quality control of the gates system of the third set of locks for the expanded canal.
“Filling the locks with water is the culmination of arduous years of labour and the realisation that we are within arm’s reach of the completion of one of the most impressive infrastructure projects of our time,” said Panama Canal administrator Jorge L.Quijano at the time.
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