Puelo Water Reserve
Protecting the Puelo River is urgent in the face of the global climate crisis and the increasing drought conditions affecting Chile.
What is a water reserve?
The Chilean water code establishes in its article 147 bis that the President of the Republic can declare, by presidential decree, a water reserve. This can occur when there is a need to supply the local population or also due to exceptional circumstances of the place and it is considered to be of national interest.
The water reserve recognises the ecological and social value of certain flows and significantly limits the granting of water use rights, protecting it from industries such as mining and hydroelectric plants.
What is the community doing to protect Puelo?
In 2019, 29 social organizations from the Puelo and Cochamó communities sent a letter to the President of the Republic requesting the designation of a Water Reserve for the Puelo River. When the request went unanswered, a signature campaign was launched in 2021 to rally citizen support for the local organizations’ petition. The campaign gathered over 23,000 signatures and received the backing of 70 organizations from the environmental, scientific, and civil society sectors.
We are currently working to maintain the availability of water in the Puelo River and supporting the local community in making their dream of definitively protecting the Puelo River a reality.
Más información en www.pueloreservadeagua.cl
