J. L. Parra, Manuel Pulido Fernández, J. G. Velarde
{"title":"The Availability of Water in Chile: A Regional View from a Geographical Perspective","authors":"J. L. Parra, Manuel Pulido Fernández, J. G. Velarde","doi":"10.5772/intechopen.92169","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Chile is famous for being the longest country in the world from north to south. It means it ranges from polar to desert conditions, water being one of the main limiting factors. In fact, Chile stores a high amount of water (695 mm y−1), but people are not located in the regions where water is more abundant (e.g. in the south). This territorial imbalance is accompanied both by a global context of climate change in which water will be presumably scarcer and by the effects of the current economic activities that are progressively more demanding in water consumption. In this work, we have compared both the current and future availabilities of water for the different regions of Chile in order to provide relevant and useful information on the water balance for land planners. The Metropolitan and Valparaíso regions (Mediterranean climate) along Antofagasta, Atacama, and Tarapacá regions (desert climate) showed the lowest mean values of water availability from 1970 to 2000 (<125 m3 person y−1). In addition, both the optimistic and pessimistic projections for 2050 forecast a significant increase in the aridity of these two central regions, where the crucial axis between the two most important cities (Santiago and Valparaíso) is located.","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2020-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.92169","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"WATER RESOURCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
Chile is famous for being the longest country in the world from north to south. It means it ranges from polar to desert conditions, water being one of the main limiting factors. In fact, Chile stores a high amount of water (695 mm y−1), but people are not located in the regions where water is more abundant (e.g. in the south). This territorial imbalance is accompanied both by a global context of climate change in which water will be presumably scarcer and by the effects of the current economic activities that are progressively more demanding in water consumption. In this work, we have compared both the current and future availabilities of water for the different regions of Chile in order to provide relevant and useful information on the water balance for land planners. The Metropolitan and Valparaíso regions (Mediterranean climate) along Antofagasta, Atacama, and Tarapacá regions (desert climate) showed the lowest mean values of water availability from 1970 to 2000 (<125 m3 person y−1). In addition, both the optimistic and pessimistic projections for 2050 forecast a significant increase in the aridity of these two central regions, where the crucial axis between the two most important cities (Santiago and Valparaíso) is located.
期刊介绍:
The Australasian Journal of Water Resources ( AJWR) is a multi-disciplinary regional journal dedicated to scholarship, professional practice and discussion on water resources planning, management and policy. Its primary geographic focus is on Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Papers from outside this region will also be welcomed if they contribute to an understanding of water resources issues in the region. Such contributions could be due to innovations applicable to the Australasian water community, or where clear linkages between studies in other parts of the world are linked to important issues or water planning, management, development and policy challenges in Australasia. These could include papers on global issues where Australasian impacts are clearly identified.