Abstract
The use of desalination has been increasing in recent years. Although this is not a new technology, its use often proceeds within ill-defined and ambiguous legal, institutional, economic and political frameworks. This article addresses these considerations for the case of Chile, and offers an evaluation of legal ambiguities regarding differences between desalinated water and other freshwater sources and associated consequences. This discussion reviews court records and legal documents of two companies operating desalination plants, both of which have simultaneous rights granted for underground water exploitation: the water supply company in the Antofagasta Region and Candelaria mining company in the Atacama Region. The analysis shows that issues of ambiguity and gaps in the legal system have been exploited in ways that allow these entities to continue the use and consumption of mountain water. They do so by producing desalinated water, and by entering into water transfer and diversion contracts with the mining sector. These findings highlight the importance of undefined socio-legal terrain in terms of shifting hydro-geographies of mining territories, contributing conceptually to critical geographies of desalination, delineating the importance of legal geographies important for water governance, as well as empirically documenting the significance of this case to consider shifts for the mining sector and water technologies and uses in contemporary Chile.
Highlights
Legal Geographies in New Water Technologies “Desalination has been identified as a secure source of water, which guarantees supply stability, avoiding the variability that natural resources present and the shortage in the basins of the northside of the country
Contributions have highlighted how the technology is proposed for solving transboundary contestations and reducing interdependencies and asymmetrical relations between neighboring countries (e.g., Israel-Jordan, Singapore-Malaysia and United States of America-Mexico in the Colorado River) [9,10,11]. Such analyses have been critical to highlight environmental and spatial-political contestations associated with desalination promises, showing ways that water technologies play an agential role in shifting nature-society relations
This article aims to expand the understanding of these linkages—offering a legal geographic analysis to broaden and deepen insights into how desalination is shifting hydro-geographies, water uses, and mining operations in contemporary Chile
Summary
Legal Geographies in New Water Technologies “Desalination has been identified as a secure source of water, which guarantees supply stability, avoiding the variability that natural resources present and the shortage in the basins of the northside of the country. The use of desalination is often proposed as a solution for alleviating drinking water shortages associated with climate change, demographic growth, and attendant water scarcities [2,3] These socio-environmental needs, coupled with a reduction of the economic cost (technological advances), are supporting the incremental expansion of desalination in many regions of the globe—in the early 1990s, less than 2500 plants were operating and currently there are more than 15,000 [4]. Contributions have highlighted how the technology is proposed for solving transboundary contestations and reducing interdependencies and asymmetrical relations between neighboring countries (e.g., Israel-Jordan, Singapore-Malaysia and United States of America-Mexico in the Colorado River) [9,10,11] Such analyses have been critical to highlight environmental and spatial-political contestations associated with desalination promises, showing ways that water technologies play an agential role in shifting nature-society relations. This article aims to expand the understanding of these linkages—offering a legal geographic analysis to broaden and deepen insights into how desalination is shifting hydro-geographies, water uses, and mining operations in contemporary Chile
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