La Tercera | From Ditches to Bridges

On Thursday, January 19, climate change knocked on our door. The Maipo River, which supplies 70% of the drinking water demand in the Metropolitan Region and 100% of the province of San Antonio, did not flow into the sea due to a weak flow rate that did not exceed 2 m3/s and failed to break through a sandbank built up by strong waves.

Faced with the risk of flooding in the surrounding communities, the Provincial Presidential Delegation of San Antonio, the municipalities of San Antonio and Santo Domingo, the Chilean Army, the Navy, public services with environmental jurisdiction, and the technical collaboration of civil society organizations such as fishermen and the Cosmos Foundation, completed the opening of a ditch that opened the Maipo River to the sea.

One lesson we must learn from this critical episode is that we shouldn’t wait until we’re on the brink of a precipice to find the will to change. Our ability to anticipate and take action today to confront the complex scenario that the triple environmental emergency presents us with is very limited. The incentives to articulate our will are low because we don’t see a short-term payoff. We only act when danger knocks, and it’s usually too late to change course without regretting serious socio-ecosystemic consequences.

It is imperative to raise our sights to move from emergency management to comprehensive watershed management. From continuing to dig ditches to building bridges between different interests. And to achieve this, the collaboration and willingness of all parties is essential, even if the effects of our actions will not be seen until the coming decades.

As administrators of the Maipo River Wetland Nature Sanctuary, the terminal point of the watershed, we believe in the need to promote a change in the traditional concept of political and administrative territorial planning and incorporate watersheds as a central element in the management of macro-zones. In this sense, the work promoted by the Metropolitan Regional Government (GORE) together with Fundación Chile to create a Watershed Organization is on the right track. With water at the center of decision-making, we can ensure water resources for human consumption, economic activities, and biodiversity conservation in a sustainable balance.