Global Issues in Water Policy

Volume 21

Editor-in-chief
Ariel Dinar, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California,
Riverside, California, USA

Series editors
José Albiac-Murillo, Zaragoza, Spain
Stefano Farolfi, CIRAD UMR G-EAU, Montpellier, France
Rathinasamy Maria Saleth, Chennai, India
Guillermo Donoso, Department of Agricultural Economics, Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Chile, Macul, Chile
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8877
Guillermo Donoso
Editor

Water Policy in Chile

Editor
Guillermo Donoso
Department of Agricultural Economics,
Water Law and Management Center
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Macul, Chile

ISSN 2211-0631     ISSN 2211-0658 (electronic)

Global Issues in Water Policy
ISBN 978-3-319-76701-7    ISBN 978-3-319-76702-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76702-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018937516

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

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To my wife, Paz, son, Rodrigo, and daughter,
Beatriz, for their lifelong support
Contents

1 Introduction, Objectives, and Scope������������������������������������������������������    1

Guillermo Donoso

Part I  Setting the Context

2 Hydrological Setting��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   13
James McPhee
3 Water Quality: Trends and Challenges��������������������������������������������������   25
Alejandra S. Vega, Katherine Lizama, and Pablo A. Pastén
4 The Socio-Economic Context of Chilean Water Consumption
and Water Markets Growth: 1985–2015�����������������������������������������������   53
Gustavo Anríquez and Oscar Melo

Part II  Water Policy and Its Implementation in Chile

5 Legal and Institutional Framework of Water Resources ��������������������   67
Alejandro Vergara and Daniela Rivera
6 Water Quality Policy��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   87
Oscar Melo and Javiera Perez
7 Environmental Flow Policy ��������������������������������������������������������������������  103
Francisco Riestra
8 Water Markets�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  117
Robert R. Hearne

Part III  Water Sectors in Chile

9 Urban Water Management ��������������������������������������������������������������������  131
María Molinos-Senante

vii
viii Contents

10 Rural Water Management����������������������������������������������������������������������  151

Rodrigo Fuster and Guillermo Donoso
11 Irrigated Agriculture ������������������������������������������������������������������������������  165
Felipe Martin and Felipe Saavedra
12 Water and Mining������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  179
Orlando Acosta

Part IV  Water Management Challenges

13 Integrated Water Resources Management in Chile: Advances
and Challenges ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  197
Humberto Peña
14 Overall Assessment of Chile’s Water Policy and Its Challenges����������  209
Guillermo Donoso

Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  221
Contributors

Orlando Acosta  Gestionare Consulting, Santiago, Chile

Gustavo Anríquez  Department of Agricultural Economics, Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Guillermo  Donoso  Department of Agricultural Economics, Water Law and
Management Center, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Macul, Santiago,
Chile
Rodrigo Fuster  Department for Environmental Sciences and Renewable Natural
Resources and Academic Director, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Universidad de
Chile, Santiago, Chile
Robert  R.  Hearne  Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics, North
Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA
Katherine  Lizama  Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad de Chile,
Santiago de Chile, Chile
Felipe Martin  MAS Recursos Naturales, Santiago, Chile
James McPhee  Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad de Chile, Santiago,
Chile
Oscar Melo  Department of Agricultural Economics, Global Change Center, and
Water Law and Management Center, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,
Santiago, Chile
María Molinos-Senante  Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, and
Centro de Derecho y Gestión del Agua (Water Law and Management Center),
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable (Center for Sustainable Urban
Development) CONICYT/FONDAP/15110020, Santiago, Chile

ix
x Contributors

Pablo A. Pastén  Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Pontificia

Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable CONICYT/FONDAP/15110020, Santiago
de Chile, Chile
Humberto  Peña  Diagua: Derecho e Ingeniería del Agua Consulting, Santigo,
Chile
Javiera  Perez  Department of Agricultural Economics, Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Francisco Riestra  División Andina – Codelco Chile, Valparaíso, Chile
Daniela Rivera  College of Law, Centro de Derecho y Gestión de Aguas (Water
Law and Economics Center), and Administrative and Economic Law Program,
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Felipe Saavedra  MAS Recursos Naturales, Santiago, Chile
Alejandra S.  Vega  Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable CONICYT/
FONDAP/15110020, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Alejandro Vergara  College of Law, Centro de Derecho y Gestión de Aguas (Water
Law and Economics Center), and Administrative and Economic Law Program,
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
About the Authors

Orlando Acosta is Director of Gestionare Consulting, specialized firm on strategic

water management, advising both private companies and governmental agencies.
He has 18 years of planning expertise in water supply systems for mining and power
industries. He has shared his experience in several conferences and papers. He grad-
uated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (1994) with a B.Sc. in
Agronomy and earned his M.Sc. degree in Hydrogeology from the Technical
University of Catalonia, Spain (2004), and Master in Mining Business Administration
from the Adolfo Ibañez University, Chile (2013).

Gustavo Anríquez has a B.Sc. in History and an M.A. in Economics from the
Universidad de Chile, and an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource
Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Gustavo held the posi-
tion of Economist, Agricultural and Development Economics Division, Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, between 2004 and 2011. At
present, he is an Assistant Professor of the Agricultural Economics Department at
the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Guillermo Donoso is an Agricultural and Natural Resource Economist from the

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Ph.D in Agricultural and Resource
Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is Full Professor of
Agricultural Economics Department and Water Law and Management Center of the
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He has held the position of Dean of the
Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal of the Pontificia Universidad Católica
de Chile from 1998 to 2007 and National Director Instituto de Investigaciones
Agropecuarias de Chile.

Rodrigo Fuster is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Environmental

Sciences and Renewable Natural Resources and Academic Director, Faculty of
Agricultural Sciences, Universidad de Chile. He earned a B.Sc. in Agronomy from
the Universidad de Chile, and an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and
Technology from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.

xi
xii About the Authors

Robert R. Hearne is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agribusiness and

Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. His research focuses on water
resources management, water management institutions, water markets, protected
area management and the valuation of non-market environmental goods and ser-
vices. He has lived and worked in Asia, Africa, Europe and North, Central and
South America.

Katherine Lizama is an Assistant Professor at Universidad de Chile, where she

teaches water quality and water treatment. She earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees
from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and her Ph.D. from Monash
University, Australia. She has worked and authored several publications on how to
use natural systems to remove contaminants from water.

Felipe Martin is an Agronomist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

He has been related to water and mining issues since 1990 as the founder of Hidrotec
and MAS Natural Resources. He was appointed Executive Secretary of the Comisión
Nacional de Riego (Chilean National Irrigation Commission) 2010–2014 (institu-
tion responsible for planning irrigation policies, administrating the Irrigation
Promotion Law and approving all irrigation initiatives to be benefited by fiscal
funds). He was also appointed as Coordinator of the Water Group of the Southern
Agricultural Council, a position he held until March 2014.

James McPhee earned a Civil Engineering degree from Universidad de Chile in

1999 and a Ph.D. in Water Resource Engineering from UCLA in 2004. He is an
Assistant Professor at Universidad de Chile. His main areas of research include
mountain hydrology with emphasis on snow and glacier hydrological processes. He
has participated in numerous work teams addressing water policy issues in Chile.

Oscar Melo is an Agronomist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

and holds an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics
from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is an Associate Professor of
Agricultural Economics Department, Global Change Center, and Water Law and
Management Center of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He has held the
position of Director of the Department of Agricultural Economics from 2007 to
2014, and Director of the M.Sc. in Agricultural and Environmental Economics
(2004–2007) of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

María Molinos-Senante earned her Ph.D. in Local Development and Territory at

the University of Valencia. She is an Assistant Professor at the Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Chile. Her main research topic involves efficiency and productivity
assessment of urban water utilities and economic feasibility of water infrastructures
including environmental benefits. She has participated in several European projects
aimed to improve the urban water management, and was Secretary of the IWA
Specialist Group on Statistics and Economics. She has carried out several research
stays in different countries such as Italy, Argentina, UK and Chile.
About the Authors xiii

Pablo A.  Pastén is an Associate Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de

Chile, where he teaches water quality and environmental geochemistry. He earned
his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and
his Ph.D. from Northwestern University, USA. As a principal researcher for numer-
ous projects, he has authored many articles and book chapters on water geochemis-
try, water treatment, water quality and sustainability.

Humberto Peña is a Hydraulic Engineer at Diagua: Derecho e Ingeniería del Agua

Consulting. He has held the position of National Director of the Dirección General
de Aguas (DGA) from 1994 to 2006. He has authored many articles and book chap-
ters on water management, integrated water resources management and water
security.

Javiera Perez is an Agronomist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

and holds a Bachelor degree in Agricultural and Natural Resources. Her research
focuses on environmental sustainability and climate change.

Francisco Riestra is a marine biologist from the University of Valparaiso, with a

graduate degree in Environmental Pollution of the University of Chile and Diploma
in Strategic Environmental Planning of the Catholic University of Chile. He is
Representative of the International Hydrological Programme for Ecohydrology of
UNESCO; Professor of Water Management and Environment in the Society of the
XXI Century of the University of Chile; and Senior Specialist of the National
Copper Corporation of Chile National Committee – Division Andina.

Daniela Rivera earned her lawyer’s degree from the Universidad de Talca and her
Doctor’s degree in Law from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She is an
Assistant Professor of the College of Law of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de
Chile. At present, she is Director of the Centro de Derecho y Gestión de Aguas
(Water Law and Management Center) and of the Administrative and Economic Law
Program of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She has authored sev-
eral articles on water law.

Felipe Saavedra is an Industrial Engineer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica

de Chile and MBA from Oxford University. He was Director of Public Investment
at the Ministry of Social Development (2010–2014), conducting economic evalua-
tions for investment projects for public and state enterprises. He is a Professor of
Project Evaluation at the Civil Engineering Schools of both the Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Chile and the Universidad de Los Andes.

Alejandra S. Vega is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Sustainable Urban

Development at the  Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She received her
B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Pontificia Univesidad Católica de Chile.
She has worked in water quality and geochemistry.
xiv About the Authors

Alejandro Vergara received his lawyer’s degree from the Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Chile, Doctor’s degree in Law from the University of Navarra, Spain,
and postdoctoral degree from the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, France.
He is Full Professor of the College of Law and the Centro de Derecho y Gestión de
Aguas (Water Law and Management Center) of the Pontificia Universidad Católica
de Chile. At present, he is Director of the Administrative and Economic Law
Program of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He has authored numerous
books and articles on water, energy, mining and administrative law.
Abbreviations

AC Asociación de Canalistas – Channel User Associations

AGIES Análisis General de Impacto Económico y Social  – General
Analysis of the Economic and Social Impact
Casen Encuesta de Caracterización Socioeconómica Nacional  –
National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey
CA Comunidades de Aguas – Water Communities
CAS Comunidades de Aguas Subterránes  – Groundwater
Communities
CBR Conservador de Bienes Raíces – National Real Estate Agencies
CIREN Centro de Información de Recursos Naturales  – Center for
Natural Resources Information
CGC Coordinación General de Concesiones – General Concessions
Coordination Department
CGR Contraloría General de la República – Comptroller General of
the Republic
CMS Consejo de Ministros para la Sustentabilidad  – Council of
Ministers for Sustainability
CNE Comisión Nacional de Energía – National Energy Commission
CNR Comisión Nacional de Riego – National Irrigation Commission
CONADI Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena  – National
Indigenous Development Community
CONAF Corporación Nacional Forestal – National Forestry Corporation
CONAMA Comisión Nacional de Medio Ambiente  – National
Environmental Commission
COREMA Comisión Regional del Medio Ambiente  – Regional
Environmental Commission
CPA Catastro Público de Aguas – Public Water Registry
CPR Constitución Política de la República de Chile  – Political
Constitution of the Republic of Chile
CRH Consejo de Recursos Hídricos  – Water Resource Council at
the basin level

xv
xvi Abbreviations

DAA Derechos de Aprovechamiento de Aguas – Water Rights

DDU División de Desarrollo Urbano – Urban Development Division
DIPROREN Dirección de Protección de los Recursos Naturales – Natural
Resource Protection Directorate
DFL Decreto con Fuerza de Ley – Decree with Force of Law
DGA Dirección General de Aguas – National Water Directorate
DMC Dirección Meteorológica de Chile – Meteorological Direction
DOH Dirección de Obras Hidráulicas –Waterworks Directorate
DR Dirección de Riego – National Irrigation Directorate
DS Decreto Supremo – Supreme Decree
FNDR Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Regional  – Regional
Development Fund
FPIR Fondos de Provisión de Infraestructura Rural  – Rural
Infrastructure Provision Funds
GORE Gobiernos Regionales – Regional Governments
GWC Ground water user committees
HA Hectáreas – Hectares (10,000 m2)
HM3 Hectómetros cúbicos – Cubic hectometres
INDAP Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Agropecuario  – Institute of
Agriculture and Livestock Development
INIA Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria  – Institute of
Agriculture and Livestock Research
INH Instituto Nacional de Hidráulica de Chile – National Hydraulic
Institute
ISP Instituto de Salud Pública – Public Health Institute
JdV Juntas de Vigilancia – Vigilance Committees
MASL Meters Above Sea Level
ME Ministerio de Energía – Ministry of Environment
MEF Minimum Ecological Flow
MI Ministerio de Interior – Ministry of Interior
MINAGRI Ministerio de Agricultura – Ministry of Agriculture
MINECON Ministerio de Economía, Fomento y Turismo  – Ministry of
Economics, Development and Tourism
MINDEF Ministerio de Defensa – Ministry of Defense
MINSAL Ministerio de Salud – Ministry of Health
MINVU Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo – Urbanism and Housing
Ministry
MM Ministerio de Minería – Ministry of Mining
MMA Ministerio de Medio Ambiente – Ministry of the Environment
MOP Ministerio de Obras Públicas – Ministry of Public Works
MT Metric Tons
kMT Thousands of Metric Tons
M 3 Metros Cúbicos – Cubic meters
MMT Millions of Metric Tons
MS Ministerio de Salud – Ministry of Health
Abbreviations xvii

NRW Non-Revenue Water

OCL Cortes ordinarias de justicia – Ordinary Court of Law
ONEMI Oficina Nacional de Emergencias  – National Emergency
Office
PAPR Programa de Agua Potable Rural  – Rural Water Supply
Program
PJ Poder Judicial – Judicial Power
PMG Programa de Mejoramiento de la Gestión  – Management
Improvement Program
SAG Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero  – Agriculture and Livestock
Service
SDAPR Subdirección de Servicios Sanitarios Rurales – Sibdirection of
Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Services
SEA Servicio de Evaluación Ambiental  – Environmental
Assessment Service
SEIA Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental – Environmental
Impact Assessment System
SEREMI Secretaría Regional Ministerial  – Regional Ministerial
Secretariat
SERNAGEOMIN Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería  – Geological and
Mining Service
SERNAPESCA Servicio Nacional de Pesca – National Fisheries Service
SERVIU Servicio de Vivienda y Urbanismo – Urbanism and Housing
Service
SI Subsecretaría del Interior – Undersecretary of Interior
SISS Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios  – Urban Water
Supply and Sanitation Regulator
SMA Superintendencia del Medio Ambiente – Superintendence for
the Environment
SS Servicio de Salud – Health Services
SUBDERE Subsecretaría de Desarrollo Regional  – Undersecretariat for
Regional Development
SUBPESCA Subsecretaría de Pesca y Acuicultura  – Undersecretary of
Fisheries and Aquaculture
TA Tribunal Ambiental – Environmental Court
TDLC Tribunal de la Defensa de la Libre Competencia  – Free
Competition Defense Court
UT Unidad Técnica para los APR – Rural Water Supply Technical
Unit
WC81 Código de Aguas de 1981 – 1981 Water Code
WR Water Rights
WSS Water and Sanitation Services
WUA Organizaciones de de usuarios de agua  – Water User
Associations
WWTP Wastewater treatment plants