Climate change Extreme drought for 13 years: "We pray to God for water"

 

Climate change Extreme drought for 13 years: "We pray to God for water" 

 

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Staffan Lindberg 

 

Published: Less than 20 minutes ago 

 

NEWS 

 

Chile is drying up. 

 

Entire lakes disappear - in the increasingly hot climate. 

 

"We pray to God for water," Amanda Carrasco, 54, told Reuters. 

 

Someone has calculated that the Penuelas Dam in central Chile used to contain enough water to fill 38,000 Olympic-sized pools. Now it would only be enough for two. 

 

Almost the entire reservoir has dried out. The seabed has turned into dry, cracked mud covered by individual fish skeletons, reports Reuters.( rapporterar Reuters.)

 

- We pray to God for water. I've never seen the water like this. There has been less water before, but never like now, says Amanda Carrasco, 54, to the news agency.

 

 

 

The satellite images from 2016 and 2022 show how the Penuelas dam has completely disappeared. Photo: COPERNICUS / SENTINEL 2 

 

Fish skeleton on what used to be the bottom of the pond. Fish skeleton on what used to be the bottom of the pond. Photo: MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP via Getty Images 

 

The dam is not the only one that has disappeared, in the 13-year-long extreme drought that has affected large parts of Chile - and which the researchers call "mega-drought". 

 

Deserted bridges 

 

Fifty miles south of the capital Santiago was formerly Lake Aculeo. Once upon a time there were lots of boats for the tourists and even a floating bar. Three years ago, the lake disappeared from the map. Today, long, weathering bridges protrude - into nothing.

 

 

A boat on the "bottom" of what was once Lake Acuelo. Photo: Esteban Felix / AP 

 

The reasons for the extreme drought are several. The higher temperatures, a consequence of climate change, have meant that the snow higher up in the Andes has largely evaporated before it is converted into meltwater and reaches the rivers. All the while the rain that previously fell over the lowlands is down to historically low levels. 

 

Has sold out 

 

But climate change is not solely responsible for the crisis. 

 

The controversial sale of water rights - where private owners have been able to divert waterways to mines and large orchards focused on the export market - has also contributed to the situation, according to The Guardian. (enligt The Guardian.)

 

More than half of Chile's 19 million people now live in a part of the country where the water situation is serious. 

 

Must be rationed 

 

The drought is creating tensions between everyone who needs the water: the farmers, the copper and lithium mines and the inhabitants of the country, reports Yale Environment 360(Yale Environment 360). And now there is growing concern that Chile's water resources may be reaching a breaking point. 

 

The water shortage has gone so far that the authorities in Santiago are planning water rationing for the first time ever. 

 

 - Water has become a national security issue, it is so serious. This is the biggest problem facing the country economically, socially and environmentally. If we do not solve this, water will cause the next uprising, says Pablo García-Chevesich, a Chilean hydrologist working at the University of Arizona to The Guardian (till The Guardian). 

 

Water right 

 

But maybe a change is underway. Several new bills talk about tearing up parts of the country's market-friendly water laws. Water must be declared a general right and climate change pointed out as a threat to the availability of water. 

 

And it's urgent. At Lake Aculeo, there are now no tourists or agriculture left.