MWH takes on the Panama Canal.

• Author: Cote, Mike
• Position: NATURAL RESOURCES - Conversation with Alan Krause - Interview

Broomfield-based MWH is leading the design for a S5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, touted to save fresh water by 60 percent

MWH is a "wet infrastructure" company with an international reach. We recently talked with MWH President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Krause about the project.

ColoradoBiz: Tell us about what MWH is doing in the Panama Canal. It's a huge project, and you're one of the two U.S. companies involved.

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Alan Krause: Our role has been as the lead designer for the new set of locks that are being constructed and designed in Panama. They actually started in 1939, and they were suspended because of the war. Now we're taking that early excavation and design, and we're advancing it into a much more sustainable and efficient system. It's one of the biggest civil engineering projects in the world today.

CB: You're using 60 percent less water with the system you're designing. How are you accomplishing that?

Krause: The fresh water that comes into the locks was wasted and not reused in the original locks. The new design is to use water-saving basins, which allows us to reuse the water and recoup about 60 percent of that water so you're not wasting fresh water. The fresh water element is required because you have a freshwater lake between the two locks on the Atlantic and the Pacific...