Water Scarcity,Gender,and Community Organization in Coquimbo,Chile

Water Scarcity Management and Gender in Contemporary Chile

“Free rivers” and “It’s not draught, it’s plunder,” are two phrases that have resonated in Chile’s sociopolitical scenario in recent years. Indeed, in Chile water is considered private property with rights granted in perpetuity, governed by a market that regulates its access through the sale of rights. Since its promulgation in 1981, the Water Code has provided the regulations governing Organizaciones de Usuarios de Agua (Water User Organizations, OUA) in charge of water management at the community level, including the Comunidades de Agua (Water Communities), Juntas de Vigilancia de los ríos (River Supervisory Boards), and the Asociaciones de Canalistas (Canal Associations). The Water Code also regulates the DGA, the state agency in charge of management and oversight.

Under the Water Code, the right to access water, considered to be a national resource for public use, was displaced by the right to property. This led to the formation of a neoliberal hydromodernity project that has structured the new governance of water ever since (Bauer, 2015; Torres and Rojas, 2018), understood as the interaction between “political, social, economic and administrative systems to regulate the development and management of water resources in the provision of water services on different levels of society” (Castelblanco, 2018: 360). In terms of public policy, this concept comes with an increased technification of water use in an effort to increase productivity in strategic sectors such as agriculture, where most water access, technically advanced irrigation, and canal works are currently concentrated. This directly reproduces socio-ecologic inequalities surrounding the distribution and access to water for agricultural irrigation (Budds, 2020; Valdés et al., 2004; Echaide, 2014). These systemic inequalities are evident in Law 18.450 (1985), also known as the Irrigation Law, which falls under the jurisdiction of the CNR as a branch of the Ministry of Agriculture. Law 18.450 is charged with promoting and financing irrigation projects by way of channeling public resources to private entities, facilitating the construction of infrastructure and the technification of irrigation, which has reconfigured territories as a result. The program, which serves both private entities as well as user organizations with water rights, provides economic incentives and subsidies that allows for the construction or improvement of canals, canal linings, reservoirs, or technical irrigation systems.

During the program’s first phase of implementation, the subsidies were mainly distributed to medium and large-scale contractors. This is because access to subsidies was mediated by applicants’ ability to co-finance the project. The law thus granted inequitable access to the available waters, especially in the central zone where grants were concentrated during the first phase. Many have theorized about the relationship between grant distribution and water scarcity problems in the area (Budds, 2012; Bolados et al., 2018; Panez et al., 2018). Although the Irrigation Program has since modified its guidelines in order to support medium- and small-scale producers, the disproportionate distribution of access to irrigation remains.

This institutional framework allows us to understand a type of governance related to water scarcity in regions like the Monte Patria area. The constant decrease in precipitation, as well as the various anthropic factors that condition the availability of water for ecosystems and biotic communities, are also important to consider (Escenarios Hídricos 2030; 2018; 2019a; 2019b). From this perspective, the concept of a hydro-social cycle (Budds, 2012; 2016) aims to link relations of power present in water scarcity with diverse interests regarding the relationship between society and nature (Romero-Toledo and Ulloa, 2018).

A variety of initiatives centered on an interconnected relationship with water (and the ecosystem in general). As a model, this case study allows us to understand other territories where water is scarce, foregrounding community management responses that understand water management as a process of transformation based on community actors’ decisions, actions, capacities, and resources to solve local problems (Moreno and Günther, 2013). The communities under study point to the importance of women in these initiatives, centering dynamics of care and organizational networks as opposed to the socio-technical management strategies that come with technological and mega-territorial interventions, such as the construction of dams, canal building, and the technification of irrigation. Stemming from their historic role in unpaid domestic work, women take on a central role in creating strategies for the daily management of scarcity (Sultana, 2009). The differential effects of gender, visible in the increase of unpaid work and decrease in family income due to limited water access, are also evident in the Chilean case (Salinas and Becker, 2022).

Despite women’s central role in the daily management of scarcity, this is not reflected in the institutional spaces available for its control. Indeed, all the spaces are extremely masculinized. It is important to reduce the gender gap in terms of decision making that involves the community in times of water crisis and to mainstream gender in its management, since community initiatives have not sufficiently reduced gender gaps in these terms (UNDP, 2006). In Chile, there is a substantial difference between the management of surface waters by OUAs with hegemonic male decision-making, and Agua Potable Rural (Rural Drinking Water, APR) co-ops, where a greater presence of women is found (Herrera, 2021). The difference aligns with female caregiving responsibilities, as well as the dynamics of domestic and unpaid work.

Limited access to common goods and gender gaps in decision making in water management reinforce social exclusion and environmental injustice, prompting the formation of territorial feminism. Territorial feminism has facilitated a change in the relationship between society and nature, emphasizing the intersectionality of gender and environment in the struggles for the sustainability of life (Merlinsky, 2021). From a gendered perspective, the distinction between public and private is also called into question by the experiences of community water management of water, where the concept of common good makes visible a relationship between society and nature that aims to collectivize its management and to question the power relations expressed in its commodification (Linsalata, 2014). The organizational knowledge involves not only water management, but also the deployment of values and collective experiences facilitating the social cohesion of communities (Sandoval and Günther, 2015). These proposals also point to the development of collective care practices around water, recognizing it as fundamental for the well-being of humans and the environment (Moreno and Günther, 2013).

The Valley of Limarí: Community Management of Scarcity and Gender

In the valley of the Mostazal river, one of the last remaining towns houses a “small oasis” where the diversity of native vegetation is still preserved, and where you can see a great variety of plants, trees, and life in general. With its curves and small cliffs, the road from Monte Patria provides a snapshot of water shortage’s effects. Many typical crops in the region have been abandoned due to lack of irrigation water. At the same time, fields of citrus and walnut trees, which are maintained for export, have colonized the hills into large green expanses that survive thanks to the modernization of irrigation. A primary criticism of the area’s socio-environmental organizations is that these extensive green areas do not coexist with native vegetation.

One can also observe the various infrastructures developed by the National Irrigation Commission: water collection ponds and canal lining, designed to improve the use of water in the basin. Few trees and home gardens can be found along the way, and the river goes unnoticed. At one of the road’s many curves, the landscape changes, as trees, shadows, birds, and insects begin to appear, putting in evidence the diversity of the ecosystem.

The river water reaches the communities and the APR co-ops by way of canals. Water management is the responsibility of several water organizations, which, as noted above, have boards of directors that are elected in accordance with each person’s water rights: each water right corresponds to one share and each share gets a vote. Whoever has more water rights has greater weight in decisions that are made, so small farmers, who have very few water rights, usually have less decision-making power and influence on the management of scarcity: “Water rights, approximately 20 to 30% of the rights are in the hands of large companies, there must be around 50% in the hands of medium-sized farmers, and small farmers, who are many, but still don’t have an important part of the shares, must represent around 20% on our board, but they are the most numerous” (Interviewee 3, Member of the Río Limarí water user organization, September 2021).

As a result, small farmers are excluded from these spaces, and the boards of the organizations are mainly made up of those who own large amounts of water rights, without much rotation in positions. Thus, the owners of large shares of water rights have had the power to decide on water resources for years, generating situations of injustice in access to water. The majority of managers are men, with little or no participation of women in the various positions. While this could be closely related to the ownership of water rights, as recent studies in the valley have shown (Herrera, 2021), it could also be associated with the greater participation of women in the domestic sphere, contrary to their participation in water management spaces, giving way to gender gaps between the private and public spheres, as well as in the participation in power dynamics (Bravo and Fragkou, 2019; Herrera, 2021): . . .when you ask [women] they say, ‘no, because that’s men’s work, because you have to use a shovel, clean canals; no, that is hard labor, we have to be at home making dinner. . .’ It’s very different in the APRs. In the APR a woman does play a leading role, more than being a housewife that does laundry and irons (Interviewee 8, Member of water users’ organization Río Limarí, January 2022). As such, Chilean water organizations have an institutional structure that presents difficulties for actors to participate under equal conditions, contributing to the reproduction of inequalities in access to water and gaps in women’s participation in its management (UNDP, 2001).

The water crisis not only drives greater conflict around water; it also persuades farmers of the need to change some aspects of this operation. In 2010, an organization parallel to those established by the Water Code emerged, bringing together people from all over the valley who made the protection of water as a common good their central objective. Far from the logic of OUAs, this organization was designed both for those who needed water to irrigate their agricultural crops and those who simply need water for everyday life. The organization proposed a change in how water is perceived in the basin, understanding water as a necessary element for the reproduction of community life. From this perspective, water is conceived as an ecosystem that incorporates humans and non-humans in a relationship of mutual necessity. This organization highlights the role of women leaders, who not only bring to the table the need for a change in thinking about water administration, but also the way political power is distributed:

For example, before the president of the supervisory board would stand there and say, “this and that” and people would do it. The small farmer, who has always been timid, would keep quiet. Because no one dared to respond to the gentleman because he was actually intimidating in his way of speaking. It happens less and less, but it has been very difficult for us to learn that first we are people and then the rest follows (Interviewee 4, Member of the Río Limarí OUA, September 2021).

Although the organization was born with the intention of participating in water management for the protection of water as a common good (giving a place to the rights of small farmers in its distribution), given the institutional structure of water in Chile, it soon became evident to the leaders of this initiative that it was essential to join the legally constituted water organization. As a result, they proposed to combine all the votes of small producers to elect representatives to this institutional space’s board of directors. Through this process, an entity that was never represented by the area’s small farmers finally brought those farmers in—as well as, for the first time, a woman. “[We united] all the small farmers, or many of them, of course not all of them joined, we knew that would happen. But it did help us to be present, to be able to have directors in the board to make decisions” (Interviewee 4, Member of the Río Limarí OUA, September 2021).

With the inclusion of small farmers, practices such as schedule changes for water distribution are gradually being questioned, opposing power in a space that was previously marked by a system of unequal voting rights and bringing it closer to the territory’s holistic dynamic. Along these lines, the role of women in promoting this type of organization and in managing scarcity runs contrary to the masculinized participation in spaces of territorial management, as well as the sociotechnical management of scarcity that puts the well-being of owners, non-owners, and non-human entities on the same level of importance.

Water as a Common Good

In the current context of water scarcity, it was essential for the community to understand water as part of an ecosystem where humans and non-humans coexist. The different uses and functions of water must also be recognized in the context of agricultural production as well as within the domestic world, without excluding the reproduction of the ecosystem or the recreational sphere.

Some representatives point to the coordination between the people of the valley’s different towns as a major acheivement. In this process, it was crucial to recognize that they faced the same needs and inequality compared to large agricultural producers and that a solution was to form a combined organization:

It was useful to link the small water communities; the only way to talk to the next town was through this group. And also, with those of the other town because in the end they came to think it was good to include representatives of small irrigators in the water organizations. (Interviewee 12, Member of the Río Limarí OUA, January 2022)

The process of incorporating water organizations was not easy, but in 2018 they managed to gather the necessary number of votes to bring their elected members into the board of directors. Since that time, they have had a presence on the Supervisory Board and on the different decision-making bodies, but they still have a minority vote. As they mentioned, it has been a period of much study and great tension, in which they have had to immerse themselves in the details of the Irrigation Law and the Water Code. Our interviewees also described the challenge of work culture anchored in the power of tradition, confronting managers who had been in the same position for decades and had no experience in incorporating women into their operation:

We first went to observe. First of all, there was Alicia’s mother, who was still very scared. I told her “But Mrs. Alicia, don’t go to fight, you don't have to fight, just listen to them, the fact that you are there is already a triumph,” and she told us that at first they looked at her as if to say “What is this old woman doing here?” (Interviewee 12, Member of the Río Limarí water user organization, January 2022).

The representatives have been categorical about complying with the Law and the Water Code, the sole mechanism currently available to defend the rights of small farmers. This is no easy task: a number of illegal practices were assumed to be “normal” by some of the former managers. Accordingly, it has been essential to educate and train leaders about the Law and the Water Code in order to debate with large agricultural producers. This is particularly important because the need to establish changes in water management in times of scarcity leads to transformations among the women who participate. Their commitment results in greater specialization in the matter, at the same time enhancing their skills in public debate and challenging the gender division in the rural world that anchors them to the private space.

However, this task is made even more difficult because it necessarily challenges patriarchal power structures of the territories. Women first became involved primarily through secretarial duties, a role historically associated with feminine spaces within organizations. The position provided even less decision-making power than that already imposed by the unequal distribution of water rights for small farmers. In this sense, women are tasked with overcoming a triple inequality: inequality related to classic gender roles, inequality related to social class (seeing that the majority of managers are medium or large agricultural producers), and finally, socio-ecological inequality, since water scarcity does not affect the daily life of rural women in the same way as that of medium or large producers (Scholz, 2014).

Interviewees indicated that a key aspect of the process was the way spoken words were recorded. A secretary takes notes of all discussions and decisions in each of the meetings, identify each participant and their position on the topics discussed, and document the comments they make during the meeting. Everything expressed in meetings is recorded, so that the minutes accurately and reliably reflect what was said. This new way of keeping minutes and documenting the entirety of a discussion is one change that was implemented with the arrival of a new secretary, the first woman and a representative of small farmers:

This old man who sometimes came to try to fool my grandmother would tell me, “You know what? You don’t have to write the minutes like that, how can you think of doing that, I’m going to give you a book for you to learn how to do it.” He said, “I’m going to give you that book for you to read and use as a model, because you don’t have to put all the details of the meetings.” And I responded, “No, how can you say that? Everything has to be noted.” (Interviewee 8, Member of the Río Limarí water user organization, January 2022)

As trivial as they may seem, the incorporation of administrative tasks such as these is an important way of validating female voices and opinions in a space dominated by male technical knowledge and authority, making it possible to enforce agreements made within the management framework. Documenting the decision-making process surrounding the collection, administration, and distribution of river water reveals how the process does not always align with legal guidelines. This diligent documentation process has made it possible to question and modify practices that did not meet with the law’s stipulations, thus benefiting small farmers. It has also made it possible to defend and enforce practices that their communities have historically engaged in. One example of this achievement has to do with the right to water for human consumption, which is required to always be available to irrigators as a small, constant flow of water in the canal, even to those who do not have private water rights. This constant flow, called teja (tile) ³ —because the water that circulates through the channel must be proportional to the water that manages to circulate through a teja—has often been blocked by water organizations despite being enshrined in the Water Code. For small farmers, that the teja should always be available to irrigators is a key point in their claim, since it is linked to the human and ecosystems’ right to water. While these community initiatives have managed to maintain the teja in some canals, the issue remains in permanent dispute, be it because irrigators do not know their rights or the insistence by some organizations’ water boards to only use water for irrigation. In situations of water scarcity, the ban on the teja mainly affects peasant women who have historically been in charge of domestic tasks associated with housework and need water from canals, especially for family gardens. When the teja is not available, families can only opt for Rural Drinking Water (RWA), which prioritizes human consumption while specifically prohibiting the irrigation of vegetable gardens that provide daily family subsistence. This further increases the precariousness of women’s income and their situation of inequality and dependence compared to their male peers (Salinas and Becker, 2022). Additionally, this ban increases the time it takes to transport water for domestic purposes, among other phenomena that particularly affect women and children.

In response, small farmers have opted for community work. Within this framework, the initiative has tested several collective solutions to water scarcity, among which two stand out: the first involving state aid provided through applications for public irrigation and water accumulation programs, while the second focuses on the collective construction of ponds for water collection.

Firstly, when it comes to applying for public programs, the water rights of the majority of residents are not stipulated (a prerequisite needed to apply for public programs) and many do not have the initial capital to allow them to hire a consultant, an essential part of the process for any application. Both factors have been an initial constraint on applications for the various programs of the CNR. Although it is very difficult for farmers in the sector to apply individually, they can apply collectively as a water community or as a community of canal builders, and have opted for canal piping processes as well as geomembranes for their coating. However, both solutions (piping and lining of canals) are quite controversial for the organizations of small producers, who argue that their indiscriminate use threatens the area’s biodiversity. This is why the community has selectively chosen which solutions to use: for example, only some parts of the canal are covered with insulating geomembrane, leaving approximately twenty-five meters with membrane and another twenty-five meters without it, allowing for greater diversity of vegetation and for aquifers to recharge. This selective use is based on community requirements and decisions which help maintain the overall diversity of the ecosystem by attracting a greater variety of insects and pollinators. Nevertheless, these measures are also controversial within the communities. It’s important to note that communities are diverse, in times of crisis town residents sometimes criticize this water management, precisely due to the extreme need of some small producers to increase irrigation during dry times.

Secondly, farmers have worked on the construction of ponds for each property to store water that the water organizations distribute in turns as part of collective management of scarcity. Irrigation of crops becomes easier and more efficient this way, especially as water is distributed more and more widely depending on the severity of the existing shortage. In some cases, the water can take forty days or more to reach the farms again, so storage capacity is vital for the maintenance of crops. With water stored in a pond, each farmer can water his crops more frequently without having to wait for the water to flow through the canal again.

Through both solutions, residents of the Limarí basin are trying to overcome one of the harshest droughts in the country’s history to establish the idea of water as a public good, despite the fact that Chilean legislation indicates the opposite:

I feel that everything is still to be done, but more efforts are needed to encourage the process because this has a contagion effect. The group encourages us, we had a meeting about three days ago that was super difficult. But one sees that after five years, businessmen are less arrogant, they no longer disregard you like before and increasingly they hardly speak. Mrs. Ester from the upper sector told them “Look, we are all small, and no one wants to grow, but what if we all started digging wells? What would happen to you? We don’t do it, sir, but we could do it, just like you do it. We don’t do it, why don’t you understand? Yes, we have to take care of the basin.” Those things were not heard in meetings before. (Interviewee 9, member of the Río Limarí water user organization, January 2022).

Conclusions

The search for greater justice and power of influence over the management and administration of water among the residents of the valley is crystallized in an organization guided by concepts of sustainable and comprehensive water management. The organization allows them to jointly seek solutions to the water scarcity experienced in the area, generating community management responses (Moreno and Günther, 2013) aimed at overcoming sociotechnical and masculinized management of scarcity. This process involves the incorporation of small farmers and women into OUAs, community and collective work for the construction of ponds for better water management by farmers, the adaptation of the technology provided by the state in pursuit of the local ecosystem and its biodiversity, as well as the fight for the right to daily access water for human consumption in the different domestic spheres.

The women involved have increasingly moved from domestic spheres into more public, productive spheres, a shift that challenges historical gender, class, and socio-ecological inequalities which are present in areas of disputed power such as OUAs. Spaces of masculinized hydropower become threatened when women achieve access to decision making and choose to deploy strategies that enforce the equitable and fair distribution of available water resources.

These local initiatives undoubtedly allow us to reflect on public policy based on the local, achievable, and culturally relevant experiences of territories resilient to scarcity and climate change. Rather than analyzing them from an idealized perspective of community action, it is necessary to focus on their conflicts, difficulties, and achievements in building successful models of action that seek to advance water justice.