The global water crisis is a problem that affects many regions of the world, and Chile is no exception. The crisis results from the lack of access to water in sufficient quantity and with the right quality to meet society’s needs.
Since the 2010 water year, central Chile has experienced an unprecedented drought that has exerted severe pressure on water resources.
Less rain, climate change and the rising demand for water due to growth in the population and economic activity, especially agriculture, are factors contributing to the situation of water scarcity.
The Maipo river basin supplies the city of Santiago, which has more than 7 million inhabitants. It is experiencing a significant decline in water resources, threatening not only the water supply to agriculture, industry and tourism, but also the supply of household drinking water.
This situation has produced numerous challenges for the governance of the Maipo basin, especially with regard to river sectioning. This is a legal/administrative concept whereby rivers are subdivided into different sections, granting individuals and organisations the right to use and exploit the water. Thus, each section of the river is considered independent for water distribution. However, this basin management system tends to favour users in the first section, as they are able distribute all the available water during a drought, drying up the river. Meanwhile, downstream users only have access to water returning from irrigation and groundwater seepage.
In Chile, river sectioning regulation dates back many years, when rules were established for water distribution. As rivers were considered public assets, their use and exploitation had to be regulated by the authorities. Thus, the concept of river sectioning has existed in Chilean legislation since its beginnings.
During the austral summer, from December 2022 to March 2023, the Directorate General for Water intervened in the Aconcagua river basin (northern neighbour of the Maipo river basin). This involved the unprecedented measure of suspending river sectioning in order to prioritise human consumption in the large coastal cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar.
Given the uncertain scenario, what is needed are measures such as promoting wastewater reuse to increase the availability of water in the basin and establishing a governance body to provide greater coordination in tackling the drought.
We at Cetaqua have a key role to play in this task and hope this article will prove a catalyst in motivating us to keep working on solutions to the delicate situation we are experiencing, to ensure proper management of water resources.
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The global water crisis is a problem that affects many regions of the world, and Chile is no exception. The crisis results from the lack of access to water in sufficient quantity and with the right quality to meet society’s needs.