Chile has no time to spare to improve water management

During the heavy rains in Santiago at the end of January, water utility Aguas Andinas had to halt water intake from the Maipo River due to increased levels of turbidity.

Although the potable water supply in the Chilean capital was secured thanks to the commissioning of new storage reservoirs, which required an investment of US$105mn, the authorities warned of possible water cuts that would have affected 38 municipalities of the Metropolitan region.

Against this backdrop, BNamericas spoke with Claudia Galleguillos, leader of water strategies at Fundación Chile, about the situation in the Maipo River basin, Chile's water vulnerability and how water issues are likely to be discussed in the preparation of a new constitution.

BNamericas: What are the main challenges for the Rio Maipo basin in particular?

Galleguillos: In general, Chile has a tremendous challenge with the water issue. It's one of the 30 countries with the highest water risk for 2025 [according to the World Resources Institute], and we're already feeling the effects.

In particular, the Maipo River basin supports a large part of the population of the Metropolitan region, but it also supports some important productive activities. It clearly has great challenges regarding the conservation and sustainable use of water.

The Maipo basin is one of those that has suffered the greatest impact due to changes in land use in recent years. There has been a great expansion in urban land in the area, which affects the entire water cycle, and we also have expansion of agriculture and forestry.

Its water cycle has to recover and also adapt to these new conditions, because what we have seen recently with the January rains, which were convective rains, will continue to happen.

This means that we're going to have long periods of drought along with very short periods of very intense rains that threaten us with floods and mudslides.

In Chile we don't have a vision regarding water in the territory, and that's seen when observing our administrative division, where some rivers are simply seen as regional limits when a basin is actually a complete system.

It's like our body and water is the blood that circulates. It supports many productive activities and it turns out that any change upstream will affect the downstream.

In this case, the change in land use, or the change in the planning of our territory, has a great impact on the water cycle and the environmental benefits provided by rivers and water systems.

There are some ecosystems that have to be protected or even restored to cope better with this impact.

BNamericas: Who are the main actors that should take action to ensure the sustainability of the Maipo River basin?

Galleguillos: Clearly the state isn't going to be able to do it alone, due to the little time we have according to national and international models. Decision-making is very important, because there are short-term reactive measures that may not be beneficial for the long term.

For example, taking a measure to deepen wells at this time will effectively supply you with water. However, in the future it will exacerbate the problem, because one of the challenges that we have in the Maipo basin is being able to sustain the aquifers as the main sources of water backup in the future.

The decision-making of the state has to be appropriate, thinking about the future and not being reactive.

So, our main actors are public sector in decision-making, but we also have the academic sector that gives us all the technical foundations on which this decision-making is based and, of course, the communities, which are the ones that experience the realities of the territories.

The important thing about this is that there should be coordination between the actors. Local actors also include APRs [community associations for rural potable water] and municipalities. The latter have few powers regarding water management and that has to be examined so they can improve management in their territories.

There are also companies. In the Maipo basin, 80% of the water is consumed by the agricultural sector, while 5% is for potable water and 2% for mining.

The agricultural sector has a great challenge and now it can take actions to collaborate with the public sector to move forward with solutions that have a long-term perspective.

BNamericas: What solutions have been proposed to manage this basin in a sustainable way?

Galleguillos: 44% of the causes that affect the water issue are related to management, so one can imagine large works that have a waiting time that, as a country, we don't have, so immediate measures have to be taken and, paradoxically, the main measures that can be taken now are management measures and are related to how the territory is organized and the restoration of ecosystems.

In some areas of the Maipo River there is already significant deterioration. There is evidence of a significant drop in aquifers in recent years, so alternatives such as infiltration and aquifer recharge have to be analyzed too.

But the most significant thing is in the agricultural sector, and its efficiency in this basin is lower than 50%, so producing a more efficient system without expanding the irrigated area [is important]. This can make more water available for other uses.

BNamericas: Do you expect situations of water insecurity like the ones you saw last week to recur, despite investments by water utilities?

Galleguillos: It can't be ruled out. The events that occur can have unexpected impacts that haven't been evaluated and we're also not prepared.

BNamericas: How do you expect situations like this to affect the constitutional debate regarding water rights?

Galleguillos: Water has to be an important strategic pillar for our country. There's no life without water and there's no productive activity without water.

To ensure this, we need a shared vision of joint development. The most difficult solution, which is also the simplest, is management, and it becomes a little more complex due to the different views and interests that the actors in the territories have.

Getting past that is difficult, but I think that the future we have to face is going to force us towards that.

We're also working on the blue certificate, which is an incentive that companies are going to have to carry out real water management, and that will push them to look at the territory and not just make investments to sustain their own production processes, but also to be able to address the challenges in the territory.