Water Conservation in Chile
WATER CONSERVATION IN CHILE
How often do we think about water?
By Cristián Bravo Galarce
Have you ever wondered how long you can live without drinking water? It is not a difficult question if you know a little bit about yourself. When it is hot, you need to drink water; when you eat, you need to drink water. However, you can live without having a shower; let us make it clear, you are going to be the one who is there, alone, nobody is going to like you but you can survive anyway. Water is the main component of animal living matter; it constitutes 50 to 90 percent of these living organisms. Protoplasm, which is the basis matter of animal living cells, consists of fat, carbohydrates, and protein solution similar to water when combined[1]. Therefore, we all should understand the importance of water resources as an important part of our existence. Without this resource, life is not possible on earth. On the contrary, the development of human societies has lead to the depletion of our water resources. This is mainly due to the fact that nature is not at the top of the of people’s list when it comes to a development of the economy; it is funny how we give priority to the greed, instead of being alive and healthy to enjoy life. We only want to use the available resources without ever considering saving them. Moreover, water conservation encompasses the policies, strategies and activities to manage fresh water as a sustainable resource in order to meet current and future human demand, just as population, household size and affluence all affect how much water is used. Factors such as climate change will increase pressures on natural water resources, especially in manufacturing and agricultural irrigation; climate change may also reduce the amount of snow, shrink the glaciers and reduce water supplies[2].
A major source of the water scarcity problem lies in Chile’s constitution. In 1980, the Pinochet regime pushed through a constitutional amendment that classified
How often do we think about water?
By Cristián Bravo Galarce
Have you ever wondered how long you can live without drinking water? It is not a difficult question if you know a little bit about yourself. When it is hot, you need to drink water; when you eat, you need to drink water. However, you can live without having a shower; let us make it clear, you are going to be the one who is there, alone, nobody is going to like you but you can survive anyway. Water is the main component of animal living matter; it constitutes 50 to 90 percent of these living organisms. Protoplasm, which is the basis matter of animal living cells, consists of fat, carbohydrates, and protein solution similar to water when combined[1]. Therefore, we all should understand the importance of water resources as an important part of our existence. Without this resource, life is not possible on earth. On the contrary, the development of human societies has lead to the depletion of our water resources. This is mainly due to the fact that nature is not at the top of the of people’s list when it comes to a development of the economy; it is funny how we give priority to the greed, instead of being alive and healthy to enjoy life. We only want to use the available resources without ever considering saving them. Moreover, water conservation encompasses the policies, strategies and activities to manage fresh water as a sustainable resource in order to meet current and future human demand, just as population, household size and affluence all affect how much water is used. Factors such as climate change will increase pressures on natural water resources, especially in manufacturing and agricultural irrigation; climate change may also reduce the amount of snow, shrink the glaciers and reduce water supplies[2].
A major source of the water scarcity problem lies in Chile’s constitution. In 1980, the Pinochet regime pushed through a constitutional amendment that classified