Petorca water crisis
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Petorca in Chile has experienced a drought as part of the Chilean water crisis since 2010.[1] It is the longest and most intense drought in the area in the last 700 years.[1] By 2018 the Ministry of Public Works had decreed Petorca a "zone of water scarcity" for fourteen years in a row.[2] The drought has mainly affected the lowlands and foothills while many surrounding hills maintain a healthy cover of avocado plantations.[3]
Lorena Donaire of the environmental organisation
Rodrigo Mundaca the spokesperson of Modatima blames the establishment of avocado plantations in the 1990s for the drought.[2] Avocado plantations continued to expand through the area in the 2000s.[4] According to Lorena Donaire the situation is aggravated by the establishment of pools of water by large landowners across the basin.[3] 70% of the cost of these pools would have been paid by the state.[3] In the avocado plantations of Petorca there are up to three thousand trees per hectare.[3]
In 2011 it was discovered that various companies engaged in regular theft of water.[4] The owners of the enterprises Agrícola Cóndor and Agrícola Pililén have been fined for these abuses.[4] Among these owners are the politicians Edmundo Pérez Yoma and Eduardo Cerda García.[4]
See also
References
- ^ a b Muñoz, Ariel; Klock-Barría, Karin; Álvarez-Garretón, Camila; Aguilera, Isabella; González-Reyes, Álvaro; Lastra, José A.; Chávez, Roberto O.; Barría, Pilar; Christie, Duncan; Rojas-Badilla, Moisés; LeQuesne, Carlos (2020-04-29). "Crisis hídrica en la cuenca de Petorca: una combinación entre la megasequía y el manejo del agua". Diario UACh (in Spanish). Austral University of Chile. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
- ^ a b Campos, Paula (July 23, 2018). "MOP declara a Petorca como zona de escasez hídrica". diarioUChile (in Spanish). University of Chile. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Salgado, Daniela (April 6, 2021). "Rodeados de paltos, pero sin agua para el consumo: el drama de zonas con escasez hídrica en Chile". Radio Bío-Bío (in Spanish). Radio France Internationale. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Freixas, Meritxell (March 22, 2019). "El aguacate que llega a Europa seca Chile". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved July 21, 2021.