Water governance in Chile: Availability, management and climate change

Valdes-Pineda, R; pizarro, R; Garcia-Chevesich, P; Valdes, JB; Olivares, C; VERA M.; Balocchi, F; Pérez F.; Vallejos C.; Fuentes R.; Abarza A.; Helwig, B

Keywords: water availability, water resources management, Water governance in Chile, Climate change and water resources

Abstract

Chile has a unique geography that provides an extraordinary variety of climatic conditions and availability of water resources. The objective of this manuscript was to describe and analyze the spatial and temporal distribution patterns, as well as the management of water resources, along a country with a narrow distance from the Andes Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. This presents challenges to water governance from data collection and analysis perspectives, and for administration of the resource. The Water Resources Directorate (Direccion General de Aguas, DGA), is the federal government organization in charge of the water resources of the country. The DGA and other relevant public and private institutions are examined in terms of competition and conflict resolution across different scales and levels of interaction associated with water resources governance. Both monitoring stations (rainfall, streamflow, water quality, groundwater, sediment and snowfall), and the Chilean management and legislation of water resources are also analyzed. Finally, the success (or lack) of the national administration to upgrade its monitoring stations and equalize water resources distribution throughout the country is discussed including the influence of climate change on data collection, and decision making across different scales of water governance. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Más información

Título según WOS: Water governance in Chile: Availability, management and climate change
Título según SCOPUS: Water governance in Chile: Availability, management and climate change
Título de la Revista: JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
Volumen: 519
Número: PC
Editorial: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Fecha de publicación: 2014
Página de inicio: 2538
Página final: 2567
Idioma: English
DOI:

10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.04.016

Notas: ISI, SCOPUS