Water Resources of Chile

Chile is a privileged country in terms of water resources, with an average annual runoff of approximately 50,000 m3/person. However, water availability varies enormously in space, as less than 1,000 m3/person are available for more than 50% of the population. The temporal and spatial distribution of water resources is driven by processes highly variables across a country with different climates explained not only by a large range of latitudes (from 17° to 56° south), but also the presence of the Pacific Ocean and the Andes with peaks up to 7000 m. This geography makes of Chile a true natural laboratory in which water is essential for the society and the economy of the country. The relevance of water resources for the country has become even more significant in the context of a mega-drought that has affected practically the entire territory in recent years, although large floods such as those in Atacama 2015 and 2017 also take place periodically.

This unique book brings together the state-of-art knowledge about the hydrology of Chile and its water resources, with a particular focus on quantitative aspects. The chapters are prepared by many of the most relevant researchers and practitioners working in water resources in the country. High-quality research contributions on climate and meteorology, surface and subsurface hydrology, water quality, water monitoring, water resource and global change, among other issues, are presented in this unique book, which offers a useful guide for academicians, researchers, practitioners and managers dealing with diverse water-related issues in Chile and other regions with similar characteristics

Auteur

Bonifacio Fernández is a Civil Engineer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) and has both a MSc and PhD degree from the Colorado State University obtained in 1982 and 1984 respectively. Since 1973, he is a faculty in the Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental at PUC, and became Emeritus Professor in 2014. He has been Visiting Professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain, and Colorado State University, where he was Affiliatte Faculty between 2002 and 2013. He was president of the Chilean Society of Hydraulic Engineering and is currently one of its Honorary Directors. Its main areas of interest are in stochastic hydrology, models for the analysis and study of drought, and the estimation of risk and the probability of occurrence of complex hydrological phenomena. He is also a specialist in urban drainage, and is the main author of the 'Chilean Urban Drainage Manual' (2013, Ministerio de Obras Públicas, in Spanish) and a 'Design Guide for Stormwater Management'. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses, and is the author of a book on Fluid Mechanics published in Chile and Mexico, and the chapter on drought characterization in the recently published second edition of the 'Handbook of Applied Hydrology' (2016, McGraw-Hill).

Jorge Gironás holds a MS degree in Civil Engineering from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), and a PhD from the Colorado State University. Currently, he is faculty in the Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental at PUC, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in hydrology and water systems. His main area of research is in hydrology and water resources, with specific interests in urban hydrology, stormwater modeling, basin morphology, extreme events and climate change. Dr. Gironás has led several research projects and participated in multiple interdisciplinary initiatives held, among others, by the Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable, the Centro de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada del Riesgo de Desastres, and the Centro Interdisciplinario de Cambio Global UC. Recently he has been working in hydrologic modeling for early warning systems and hydrologic assessment of green infrastructure in urban settings. In addition to more than 60 peer-reviewed papers, he is the main author of the EPA-SWMM model application's manual (2009, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), and co-author of the Chilean Urban Drainage Manual (2013, Ministerio de Obras Públicas, in Spanish) and the chapter on drought characterization in the second edition of the 'Handbook of Applied Hydrology' (2016, McGraw-Hill).

Contenu

Foreword

Chapter 1: Country profile

Jorge Gironás, Bonifacio Fernández and José Saldías

Chapter 2: Climate and Weather in Chile

Patricio Aceituno, Juan Pablo Boisier, René Garreaud, Roberto Rondanelli and José A. Rutllant

Lina Castro and Jorge Gironás

Chapter 4: Surface Water Resources

Eduardo Varas C. and Eduardo V. Varas

Chapter 5: Groundwater resources

Francisco Suárez, Sarah Leray and Pedro Sanzana-Cuevas

Chapter 6: Snow cover and glaciers

James McPhee, Shelley MacDonell, Gino Casassa

Chapter 7: Extreme Events, floods

Jorge Gironás, Tomás Bunster, Cristián Chadwick

Chapter 8: Extreme Events, droughts

Bonifacio Fernández, Jorge Gironás

Chapter 9: Catchment-Scale Natural Water Balance in Chile

Nicolás Vásquez, Javier Cepeda, Tomás Gómez, Pablo A. Mendoza, Miguel Lagos, Juan Pablo Boisier, Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Ximena Vargas

Chapter 10: Water Quality

Pablo Pastén, Alejandra Vega, Katherine Lizama, Paula Guerra, Jaime Pizarro

Chapter 11: River Basin Policy and Management

Humberto Peña

Chapter 12: Agricultural Uses

Francisco Meza, Pilar Gil and Oscar Melo

Chapter 13: Domestic uses of Water

María Molinos-Senante and Guillermo Donoso

Chapter 14: Mining and Industrial Uses

Denisse Duhalde, Daniela Castillo, Ricardo Oyarzún, Jorge Oyarzún, and José Luis Arumí

Chapter 15: Hydroelectric Uses

Sebastián Vicuña, Marcelo Olivares, Chris Hermansen, Mark Falvey, Fernando Purcell

Chapter 16: The Chilean forest sector and its relationship with water resources

Roberto Pizarro-Tapia, Alfredo Ibáñez-Córdova, Pablo García-Chevesich, Carlos Vallejos-Carrera, Claudia Sangüesa-Pool, Romina Mendoza-Mendoza

Chapter 17: Environmental and recreational uses

Francisco Riestra, Agustín Silva, Christian Valenzuela

Chapter 18: Economics of water resources

Guillermo Donoso

Chapter 19: Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resources

Sebastián Vicuña, Ximena Vargas, Juan Pablo Boisier, Pablo A. Mendoza, Tomás Gómez, Nicolás Vásquez, Javier Cepeda

Chapter 20: Impacts of Urbanization and Land Use Change over Water Resources

Tomás Bunster, Jorge Gironás, Carlos Bonilla, Carolina Rojas

Chapter 21: Water Resources Research in Chile

José Vargas, Jorge Soto

Chapter 22: Challenges for the future

Bonifacio Fernández, Magdalena Barros, y Jorge Gironás