Chile committee votes to scrap water rights for mines and farms
A proposal to annul water rights granted to Chile’s private sector over the past four decades was approved in an initial vote by an environmental committee as part of the process to draft a new constitution.
The plan would require mines, agribusinesses and utilities to seek temporary permits to use water in a new model that prioritizes human consumption, the sustainability of water reserves and indigenous rights. Other non-industrial holders of water rights would receive compensation within two years.
Thursday’s vote is just a first step, with the norm requiring subsequent approval by the committee, as well as a two-thirds majority by the full assembly before becoming part of a draft charter that will go to a referendum in the second half of the year.
The proposal would mark another major step toward enshrining water as a human right as depleting supplies increase scrutiny of one of the world’s most privatised allotment systems. In January, congress passed a bill to cap unlimited water allocations at 30 years and empower regulators to suspend rights that aren’t being used, or if supplies are at risk.
By protecting the rights of agricultural, energy and mining companies, the current system helped Chile become a major exporter of goods from copper to avocado and wine. But more than a decade of drought and lax oversight has left some communities dry, elevating water to a key social justice issue.
Water is part of a broader push in Chile to overhaul a model that used privatized social services to help create one of the region’s most vibrant economies but which left many people behind. Those concerns underpinned an eruption of street protests in 2019 that gave rise to the Constitutional Assembly.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Weir is a global leader in mining technology. We recognise that our planet’s future depends on the transition to renewable energy, and that...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Rittal is a world leading provider of top-quality integrated systems for enclosures, power distribution, climate control, IT infrastructure and...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
