Miambiente employees collect water samples from La Villa River, near the district of Los Santos, in June 2025, when the water crisis first emerged. (Photos courtesy of Panama’s Environment Ministry, Miambiente)
Deforestation and unmanaged runoff from pig farms and public dumps have left 200,000 people on Panama’s Azuero Peninsula without clean water for over a year. Since May 27, 2025, Panama’s lead water agency—the National Aqueduct and Sewer System Institute (Idaan)—has shut down four of its water-treatment plants along the Estibaná and La Villa rivers. It says they’ve been overwhelmed by microorganisms such as nematodes and fecal coliforms. Over a year later, residents still boil water, buy bottled water or rely on water delivered in truck-mounted tanks. The treatment plants, which serve 200,000 residents, have started back up, but Panama’s Health Ministry (Minsa) says their water is still unsafe unless boiled due to microorganic contamination. Panama’s government has blamed poorly managed waste from pig farms and the region’s landfills as the primary sources of the pollution. Residents complain that mounting pollution and environmental degradation have been ignored... [Log in to read more]
