Petorca water crisis facts for kids
The town of Petorca in Chile has been facing a serious drought since 2010. This drought is part of a bigger problem called the Chilean water crisis. It is the longest and strongest dry period in this area in the last 700 years. By 2018, the Chilean government had officially called Petorca a "zone of water scarcity" for fourteen years in a row. This means there wasn't enough water for everyone.
The drought mostly affects the lower parts of the land. However, many nearby hills still have lots of green avocado farms. This difference has made many people wonder why some areas have water and others do not.
Contents
Understanding the Water Shortage
What is a Drought?
A drought happens when an area gets much less rain than usual for a long time. This causes water sources like rivers, lakes, and underground water to dry up. When there isn't enough water for people, farms, and nature, it becomes a serious problem. Petorca has been in a drought for over a decade.
Why is Petorca Running Out of Water?
Lorena Donaire, from an environmental group called Modatima, remembers the Petorca River first drying up in 1985. Many people believe that changes made to laws about land and water in the 1970s and 1980s caused some of today's problems. These changes made it easier for a few wealthy landowners to own a lot of land and water rights.
The Chilean Constitution of 1980 and the Water Code of 1981 are often mentioned. These laws allowed the ownership of water rights to be separate from land ownership. This meant that someone could own the right to use water without owning the land it was on. This change made it easier for water rights to be bought up by a few powerful people.
The Role of Avocado Farms
How Avocado Farms Use Water
Rodrigo Mundaca, another spokesperson for Modatima, says that the growth of avocado farms in the 1990s made the drought worse. Avocado trees need a lot of water to grow, especially in dry climates. These farms continued to grow bigger throughout the 2000s.
On avocado farms in Petorca, there can be up to three thousand avocado trees in just one hectare (about 2.5 acres) of land. All these trees need a lot of water to thrive.
Water Pools and State Support
Lorena Donaire also points out that large landowners have built many water pools across the area. These pools collect water, which can reduce the amount of water flowing in rivers and streams for others. A big part of the cost for these pools, about 70%, was paid for by the government through state support. This means public money helped build these private water storage systems.
Efforts to Address the Crisis
Unauthorized Water Use
In 2011, it was found that some companies were using water without proper permission. The owners of companies like Agrícola Cóndor and Agrícola Pililén faced penalties for these actions. Some of these owners included politicians like Edmundo Pérez Yoma and Eduardo Cerda García. This showed that some people were not following the rules about water use.
The water crisis in Petorca is a complex issue. It involves a mix of natural dry periods, old laws, and how water is used by large farms. Many people are working to find fair solutions so that everyone in Petorca has enough water.
