The Ministry of Public Workss (MOP) made official this Friday in the Official Gazette the declaration of water scarcity for six districts of the Metropolitan region.
Specifically, the document details that “since January 28, 2022, water shortages have been declared for the communes of Lo Barnechea, Las Condes and Vitacura and in the province of Melipilla, the communes of Curacaví, María Pinto and Melipilla“.
The General Directorate of Waters, specifically its Hydrology Division, prepared a report called “Hydrometeorological Conditions Report”, where they analyzed the Cerro Calán meteorological station and the Mapocho river fluviometric station in Los Almendros, which provide data on rainfall and runoff of river flows respectively.
The data provided concluded that the communes of Lo Barnechea, Las Condes, Vitacura and those of the province of Melipilla meet the condition of being declared a time of extraordinary drought -associated with rainfall-, since the standardized flow index (IPE ) is less than -0.84.
Scarcity in the Coquimbo Region
Not only the Metropolitan region received this serious news, since in the same document the Coquimbo region was declared to have water scarcity, based on the report called “Hydrometeorological Conditions Report, Coquimbo Region”.
In said work, the La Serena meteorological stations were analyzed; Rivadavia; oval; Dove; Cogoti 18; The cinnamon; Huintile; Salamanca and Los Vilos, which provide data on rainfall in the area. In addition, the Río Elqui fluviometric stations in Algarrobal were also studied; Hurtado River in San Agustín and Choapa River in Cucumén.
Finally, it was concluded that the Coquimbo region meets the conditions to be classified as a time of extraordinary drought, since its rainfall and river flows are lower than the standardized indices that correspond to -0.84.
