AFP, published on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at 2:49 PM
A decade of drought has left authorities in Santiago de Chile thinking about how best to avoid water rationing: austerity, planting native vegetation, and restrictive plans try to anticipate ongoing scarcity.
Central Chile has been hit by a drought that has lasted for more than a decade. With a 71% rainfall deficit in 2021, the austral winter in this region was the driest ever recorded in the 21st century (43% nationwide), according to the Chilean Meteorological Directorate.
The forecasts are also alarming for the new winter approaching with light rain forecast around the capital, a consequence of climate change.
Without enough rain, the main reservoirs, lakes and rivers that supply the 7.1 million inhabitants of Santiago are at critical levels and authorities are preparing for the last resort: rationing.
“We can’t let the rain fall. It’s not up to us, but we can prepare for an extreme situation. We’ve had a drought for 12 years, so there’s a real chance we’ll have to deal with” rationing, the governor of Santiago, Claudio Orrego, last week, when he announced the implementation of a three-level warning protocol.
The first two relate to reducing non-essential applications and reducing the pressure in the taps. The final level, “Red Alert”, involves strict “rotating” rationing through sectors of the city for a period of up to 24 hours.
Although the population of Santiago has tripled in 50 years, domestic use represents only about 10% of the water consumed in Chile, agriculture 70% and industry 20%.
– Native species –
Every day, the agronomist Pablo Lacalle observes with concern the decrease in the flow of the Mapocho River, which crosses Santiago from east to west over a length of about thirty kilometers. Last year, according to official figures, it fell by 57%.
“For us it’s a trend. It’s like reading the newspaper in the morning, we have an idea of what will happen during the day” for water needs, explains Mr. Lacalle out, head of water sources in the Santiago Metropolitan Park (parquet).
This park covers 737 hectares and is located on the hill of San Cristobal, one of the highest in Santiago, which is visited by more than six million visitors every year.
The extensive lawns are irrigated by water from the Mapocho River, which is also the main sprinkler for the many private gardens in the affluent neighborhoods of eastern Santiago.
“We need to plan our irrigation capacity of the park as we have a water shortage of 87% compared to previous years,” explains Mr. Lacalle out.
Strategies to reduce the park’s water needs have already been implemented and “the exotic forest is being replaced by native forest,” such as on the northern slope where 100,000 trees have been planted in three years, explains Parquemet director Eduardo Villalobos.
These reflections have made it possible, he says, to reduce the risks of “drought and fires.”
Initiatives are being launched all over the city to save water, which has become a precious commodity.
Architect Joaquin Cerda has launched the “native sidewalks” project to replace the grass that covered some 150 square meters of sidewalks in the residential area of Pedro de Valdivia Norte with 25 different native plants.
“These are species that are used to the Mediterranean climate of Santiago, to prolonged periods of drought,” he told AFP.
“We water for half an hour once a week and use a drip irrigation system,” he says, noting that “water consumption has been reduced to less than a tenth of what ‘it was before’.
Water is also at the center of ongoing debates over the drafting of Chile’s new constitution, which will be submitted for approval by referendum in September.
If water is a national public good whose concession has been entrusted to the private sector, members of the Constituent Assembly on Monday approved an article stipulating that “it is an inalienable public good” that must be used on a participatory, supportive and fair basis. are managed.
