Chile: Persistent drought is depleting drinking water – 03/23/2024 – Environment

After 15 years of a devastating drought, Chile’s reservoirs are drying up, putting access to drinking water in the Andean country at risk.

The Cogoti reservoir, in the Coquimbo region, in the north of the country, with a capacity of 150 million cubic meters, was completely exhausted at the end of summer.

“The water situation is critical, I hope God remembers the poor rural population and farmers,” said Heriberto Pérez, who raises cattle in the region and worries about the lack of water for the animals.

“We’re all human and we have to drink some water, right?”

The historic drought has affected almost every aspect of life in the copper-rich nation, from mineral production to the green spaces of the capital Santiago.

The NGO WRI classified Chile as one of the countries with the greatest water stress in the world, at risk of running out of water supply by 2040.

Although rains helped replenish some reservoirs in central and southern Chile last winter, the north remained dry, draining the region’s reservoirs.

“It hasn’t rained in our area, it’s been raining very little for years,” said René Carvajal, president of a local rural drinking water committee in Coquimbo.

Carvajal said that in one year it only rained 15 millimeters and that last year there was no snow in the Andes mountain range in the region.

“We could immigrate, but we will find the same water situation, the lack of water in other cities too,” said Carvajal. “There will be water restrictions in the city too, water is scarce here and throughout the region.”