linguistic:paraphrasing
Water issues

Gatun Lake is filled with rainwater, and the lake accumulates excess water during wet months. For the old locks, water is lost to the oceans at a rate of 101,000 m (26.7 million US gal; 81.9 acre⋅ft) per downward lock movement. The ship's submerged volume is not relevant to this amount of water.

During the dry season, when there is less rainfall, there is also a shortage of water in Gatun Lake.

As a signatory to the 2000 United Nations Global Compact and member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the ACP developed an environmentally and socially sustainable program for expansion, which protects the aquatic and terrestrial resources of the canal watershed. The expansion uses three water-saving basins at each new lock, diminishing water loss. It also preserves freshwater resources along the waterway by reusing 60 percent of water from the basins in the locks in each transit.

The mean sea level at the Pacific side is about 20 cm (8 in) higher than that of the Atlantic side due to differences in ocean conditions such as water density and weather.

The 2015-16 fiscal year was one of the driest periods on record, restricting ships passage; 2019 was the fifth driest year for 70 years. Temperature rise has also caused an increase in evaporation. In normal times, 36 ships can transit the canal each day, but in early December 2023, ships were backing up because only 22 ships per day could transit due to low water levels. In January 2024, 24 ships per day were allowed to transit.