Project
Panamaes Resort and Spa
In Progress
The Panamaes Resort and Spa is a two hundred-room resort and spa with 75 estate lots located on Panama’s southwestern coast. The property consists of over 700 acres with two rivers and several spectacular sand beaches. The client’s desire was to create a “green” development and simultaneously return the site to a tropical dry rain forest (overgrazing has turned the land to dry pasture). NSI was asked to provide engineering and design services for wastewater collection, treatment and reuse; stormwater management and reuse; water supply and fire protection; and estuary protection and storm surge protection for
the beach front.
Our design approach to wastewater requires decentralized collection with superior on-site treatment systems. The treatment technology relies on the applied ecologies of
the pond (septic), marsh (constructed wetland), river (recirculating sand filter), and woodland (irrigation). The system must remove any possible wastewater contaminants to protect fragile rivers and beaches. Unlike conventional industrial treatment systems, which take 8 hours, this system relies on much longer treatment times (6.5 days) to biologically break down contaminants in wastewater. After final treatment wastewater becomes a resource for irrigation.
Storm water treatment relies on vernal ponds, rain gardens, swales, stormwater wetlands and cisterns. Stormwater is retained on site, minimizing erosion, supporting existing vegetation, recharging the aquifer, and irrigating developing gardens.
Working with a Panamanian well driller, NSI developed a well field capable of providing an adequate supply of pure drinking water from the underlying aquifer. In addition, NSI designed a fire protection system that met US standards.
One of the most spectacular areas in Panamaes is the estuary and beach front. Working with marine consultants, NSI designed a beach protection system using Tencate geo-tubes and Maccaferi gabions. The system had to be both aesthetically pleasing and structurally sound. NSI also worked with biologists to reestablish the mangrove population.