Vital Ag Areas In Chile's Semi-Arid Chico Norte Region Haven't Had Rain For Year

[hatrack]

Water shortages in one of Chile’s prime agricultural districts – Region III’s Copiapo valley, home to Chile’s early table grape deal – have local fruit growers and government officials concerned. Tierra Amarilla and Alto del Carmen communities in Huasco have not experienced a drop of rain for over a year. More than 700 fruit growers rely on the Lautaro water reservoir, fed by the Copiapo River, which has a maximum capacity of 23 million cubic meters of water and normally holds about 10 million cubic meters of water. But today the reservoir is completely dry – the result of prolonged drought conditions and overuse of limited water resources.

Water levels in the Santa Juana reservoir located in the Huasco Valley are also drastically reduced, dropping from 160 million to 130 million liters of water in the last month. In total an estimated 24 million cubic metres of water has diminished in the region’s reservoirs in the last year.

Table grape growers have mostly harvested their crops and do were able to squeak though this export season despite the water shortage. But they are greatly worried about next season. Water allotments in the Copiapo Valley have already been cut to the nub. “Each of the nine districts that comprise the water shed has been limited to 100 liters of water per second,” said local grower Hugo Cicardina, who sits on a neighborhood commission that oversees the distribution water coming from the Copiapo River. “It used to be that we assigned 250 liters per second to each district.”

Growers say this is the limit. Any further reductions and they lose their harvests. They say there is only one way out of the dilemma: desalinization of nearby seawater. "We are asking permission to desalinize sea water, projects just like environmental authorities have already approved for mining operations at Caserones and Cerro Negro near Antofagasta,” said regional governor Viviana Ireland.

EDIT

http://www.santiagotimes.cl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18079:chile-water-authority-fears-future-water-shortages&catid=44:environmental&Itemid=40

[cutlassmama]

1. Water shortages are going to become a leading issue in the years to come