They had a wetter than average Spring, the last few months have been drier than normal, but since 2019, they have been above the mean, the time the 2nd AP article was written. Based on the above and what has occurred the last few years, no way in he!! the canal is running dry and causing issues, we're being had yet again.

Sure, or just maybe the climate change summer push that is plastered all over the media was moved up 10 years. I suppled the same information on the CBS youtube channel covering the story and of course they deleted the comment, just shows you they don't want to have the truth revealed.

They're not going to give it a rest until we're all eating bugs in our concrete cubicles, are they.

Why don't they use the HAARP and have it rain to fill up the canal?

They can pump water to the lake. This is a manufactured crisis.

I'm no expert, but from what I've read, the cost to pump water back into the system would raise costs exponentially, essentially rendering the entire system obsolete.

However, that's to say there is even a water crisis, if there were sufficient reserves in 2019, during a drought nonetheless, and since that point, except for the last few months, rainfall has been above average, what is really going on and why.

The media sucks, no debate from anyone about that, authors (if they are even people) rarely know what they are writing about and stick to the proven formula of sensationalism that generates clicks. As a consumer you choose to engage with that or, if you're interested look into topics yourself.

Here's the link to the canal's Gatun Water Level Indicators dashboard:

https://evtms-rpts.pancanal.com/eng/h2o/index.html

You can see current lake level is just below 80 feet above sea level, 5 feet below average, and this affects the maximum allowed draft for ships navigating the canal. It also costs more to transit when levels are low. Panama is selling water from their lake as part of using their canal, the less water they have to offer, the more it costs, simple law of supply and demand. I don't see a conspiracy there.

There is also a link to an excel file with recorded water levels going back 60 or so years. Water levels have been this low in the recent past, so the current level is hardly the end of the world. Someone might look at that data and attempt to identify a trend though.

how would the system be obsolete though - it's more about the speed for shipping lanes than cost effectiveness

It's a balance of both, often driven by fuel costs. Importers have to pay for speed.

Empty boats that can move faster with less fuel will still sometimes skip both the Panama and Suez rather than pay the $300,000 to $1,000,000 fee. There will be a point where it's cheaper for loaded boats to go around as well.