Mr. Director,
The proposal for a constitutional water statute, approved on February 3 by a simple majority in the Environment Committee of the Constituent Convention, establishes the expiration of all water rights constituted since 1981, and only authorizes the use of water to supply certain activities and people, denying it for a very important part of the country.
This proposal is not good for Chile, and if approved as a constitutional norm would mean a profound negative impact on the country’s economic activity and people. The approved standards demonstrate a notable lack of knowledge about water management, which ignores the opinion of experts and universities, in addition to belittling good national and international practices that have proven to be suitable for sustainable water management and that are collected in countless comparative studies.
Surprisingly, in addition, the proposal does not consider or value the parliamentary work and governments of different political signs, which after 12 years, in January of this year, has concluded in the approval of a significant modification to the water legislation in the National Congress, unanimously in the Senate and a large majority in the Chamber of Deputies. This legislative change incorporates the consideration of the public interest both in the granting and in the exercise of rights over water, enabling their extinction or limitation, as well as instruments for the sustainable use of water and the integrated management of watersheds, among other relevant aspects.
We trust that the plenary session of the Convention, which must approve the constitutional statute of water by 2/3 of the conventional ones, will be the instance where the legal and technical visions that allow these new norms to approach the objectives of sustainability and rationality that Chile needs, thinking about the best for the present and future generations, can enter the debate.
Directory Latin American Association of Underground Hydrology for Development (Alhsud) Chilean Chapter
Pablo Rengifo, president.
Francisco Echeverría, vice president.
José Luis Fuentes, treasurer.
Carlos Ciappa P., secretary.
Orlando Acosta, director.
Carmen Copier, director.
Pablo Jaeger, director.
Hernán Llona, director.
Fernando Peralta, director.
Ignacio Popelka, director.
Francisco Suárez, director.
José Luis Arumí, advisor.
Gerardo Díaz del Río, advisor.
José Luis Delgado, advisor.
Gonzalo Lira, advisor.
Luis Jorquera, advisor.
Eugenio Celedón, former president.
