Bill 218.

Summary.

The bill declares the regulation of reclaimed water from the Panama City Wastewater Treatment Plant a matter of public order and social interest. It directs the State to promote and regulate alternative water resources for uses that do not require drinking water and to promote education on the rational use of water in public and private schools. It defines, among other terms, water for human consumption, treated wastewater, sewage, self-monitoring, water reclamation facilities, distribution infrastructure, and water reuse.

It incorporates treated water into Panama’s water resource management. It identifies institutions and services required to use it, including the Meritorious Fire Department of the Republic of Panama (Benemérito Cuerpo de Bomberos de la República de Panamá), the Urban and Household Sanitation Authority (Autoridad de Aseo Urbano y Domiciliario), the Panamanian Sports Institute (Instituto Panameño de Deportes), the Environmental Management Directorate (Dirección de Gestión Ambiental), the Municipality of Panama (Municipio de Panamá), the National Directorate of Cultural Heritage (Dirección Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural), and Panama’s Ministry of Culture (Ministerio de Cultura de Panamá). It also includes green-space boards and hospitals for boiler use. It directs state bodies to establish its use and lists applications such as irrigation, cleaning, fire protection systems, industrial processes, and aquifer recharge. For uses absent from the table in Article 15, the Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Salud), with support from the Directorate of Integrated Watershed Management (Dirección de Gestión Integrada de Cuencas Hidrográficas), would require quality standards corresponding to the most similar use; that directorate would request a prior, binding health report.

The Ministry of Health would establish basic quality standards according to use through its laboratories. The plant operator would obtain an annual discharge authorization, and holders of future concessions or authorizations would bear the costs of meeting quality requirements. Facilities would be subject to the availability for use established by the Ministry of Health to serve other population centers and to maintenance controls. Article 12 limits reuse to industrial or agricultural uses. Tanker filling and irrigation supply points would have to mark the water as nonpotable and unsafe for human consumption.

Quality would be assessed through samples systematically collected at delivery points. The table in Article 15 sets out urban, agricultural, industrial, and recreational uses, with maximum permissible values and other criteria for each category. It also provides for validated alternative analytical methods, testing in laboratories with quality control, and mandatory pathogen detection. For certain cooling towers and evaporative condensers, it refers to health approval of the control program provided for in Royal Decree 86512003 of July 4. Every public or private institution would need a permit and prior health approval to use this water.

The bill prohibits various uses, including human consumption, hospital facilities, recreational bathing, and public ornamental spaces, subject to the exceptions stated in Article 17. The mayor of the relevant district would impose fines of 2,000 balboas (B/. 2,000.00) and, for repeat violations, 5,000 balboas (BI. 5,000.00). Anyone could report violations to the health authority and the National Police (Policía Nacional); the sanctioning procedure would follow Law 38 of July 31, 2000. It declares March 22 Water Day, directs the Executive Branch to promote activities through the Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educación), provides for implementing regulations, repeals conflicting provisions, and makes the law effective upon promulgation. Its content relates to health, environmental, education, and municipal authorities, and to the agricultural, industrial, food, hospital, recreational, and green-space management sectors.