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INTRODUCTION The Atacama in Northern Chile is the driest non-polar desert in the world. While the region has an abundance of valuable resources, human inhabitation of such an extreme environment brings as many challenges as it does opportunities. Vital among these, is the need for water where it does not naturally occur. The Atacama contains the largest reserves of copper ore on Earth, a material as important to the world as it is to Chile’s economy. Mining of this ore, along with other industries such as science and agricultural, contribute to a population of over 1 million people, living in several cities scattered across this vast, arid land. Copiapó is one such city, occupying an unusually fertile valley on the southern fringes of the desert. Increases in mining and agricultural activity in recent years however, have depleted precious water resources. Meanwhile, the population continues to grow. As a result, the city’s river has been dry for two decades with little existing infrastructure to adequately replenish water resources. Elsewhere in the world, issues similar to those in Copiapó are experienced by increasing numbers in less extreme environments in both the developed and the developing world. As populations rise and place further strain on fresh water supplies, it is estimated that within 15 years almost half the world’s population will suffer water scarcity.
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GLOBAL WATER SCARCITY
We are running out of fresh water, the planet’s most important natural resource. Almost three quarters of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, however, the vast majority of this is saline and unfit for most of our needs. Just 3.5% of the water on Earth is fresh water, and even so, most of this is locked in the polar ice caps and in glaciers, leaving less than 1% for human use and consumption (USGS, 2015). The natural supply of fresh water relies on complex hydrological cycles that have remained constant for thousands of years. This cycle relies on evaporation from the oceans which condenses in the atmosphere to form precipitation (NASA, 2010). Once it falls to Earth, we generally receive fresh water from two main sources; surface water comprising rivers and lakes, and groundwater, that sits beneath the surface of the ground at the water table. While many point to global warming as the primary cause of recent water shortages, evidence suggests that population growth is to blame (Dean, 2009). As the world population continues to grow, the natural supply remains constant and has become overstretched. Today at least 1 billion people live in areas of high water scarcity. Within 15 years this number is expected to rise to include half of the world’s population (United Nations, 2014).
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Data from UNESCO’s global water stress indicator overlayed on a population density map to show specific population centres that are most likely to be affected by water scarcity in the near future.
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Water scarcity is divided into two categories. Many developing countries that lack access to clean drinking water suffer from economic water scarcity. This means that fresh water is physically present but the economic investment needed to acquire it is not. The other type of water scarcity is a physical lack of available fresh water, both on the surface and below the ground. We call this physical water scarcity and it is a much more difficult problem to solve. In recent decades, physical water scarcity has increased in both the developing and the developed world (United Nations, 2014). Physical water scarcity poses a serious threat to global food security as over 70% of the world’s supply of fresh water goes towards producing the food that sustains us (United Nations, 2014). One of the biggest areas of water use in food production is meat and dairy products. While the animals themselves require large volumes of water, so do the crops that feed them. To produce one kilo of beef therefore, approximately 15,400 litres of water are needed (Morelli, 2012). Research in the US, concludes that if every American ate meat one day less per week, the amount of water that could be saved would equal the entire annual flow of the Colorado River (Zamora, Kirchner and Lustgarten 2015). This is a very significant volume. In fact, the Colorado River supplies water to many parts of the south-western United States, including cities in California, the country’s most populous state. In recent years, almost every state in the west of the country has faced some form of water shortage and the resources of the Colorado River have become stretched (Zamora, Kirchner and Lustgarten 2015). Today, the river’s water rarely reaches the sea (Talbot, 2014). To add to the problem, the region’s backup system – its groundwater reserve – is also completely run down. In response to this, state governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in 2014, and appealed to Californians to reduce their water consumption (Goldenberg, 2014). The drought has had a devastating effect on California’s $46 billion agriculture industry, an important source of food for the country (Zamora, Kirchner and Lustgarten 2015). Some, including the US director of national intelligence, warn that the fragile
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Above: Drought areas in California over a 4 year period. California is America’s largest state by population. It is estimated that over 36 million people are living in the state’s drought areas. Data: Mark Svoboda, National Drought Mitigation Center
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relationship between global water supplies and population growth will inevitably result in war and conflict (Goldenberg, 2014). In fact, water wars have already begun. The ongoing conflict in Syria began after droughts forced Syrian farmers to migrate to urban settlements, fuelling the civil war there (Hammer, 2013). Water projects in Turkey, Ethiopia and China all threaten international relationships, while civil unrest over water persists in places like São Paolo (Fergusson, 2015). In the face of these global issues, water is being treated as an increasingly valuable commodity around the world; Goldman Sachs have called it “the petroleum of the next century” (Fergusson, 2015). In some countries, authorities have turned to privatisation, granting large corporations the right to control and distribute water resources. One infamous example occurred in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which privatised its water network in a $2.5 billion contract with Aguas del Tunari, a company owned by the multinational corporation Bechtel. In their plan to modernise infrastructure, costs increased. The result for some ordinary workers in the city was a water bill that doubled, equating to a quarter of their total income. Soon after the first bill arrived, protests began eventually leaving one student dead from police gunfire, and many others injured. The authorities eventually severed their ties to the company as quickly as they’d formed them but of course the water problems persist. The poor in Cochabamba who are not on the water network, pay ten times more for their water than the rich who are connected to the infrastructure (Finnegan, 2002). Protests against the privatisation of water supplies have occurred all over the world, in countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan, India, South Africa, Poland, and Hungary (Finnegan, 2002). This repeating pattern seems to indicate that people in general don’t want multinational corporations controlling their water and dictating its cost. Perhaps it is a natural human instinct to oppose placing the source of all life in the hands of others who seek to profit.
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Above: Traffic sign displaying a drought awareness message on the Northbound I-5 in Los Angeles. Photo: Eric Beteille
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WATER AND CHILE Although many of Chile’s water issues stem from physical and geological scarcity, government policy also plays an important role. In 1981 the Water Code (Codigo De Aguas) was enacted under the military regime of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, with the intention of improving the economic situation of Chile at that time. It is characterized by the consolidation of water privatisation. The document states that water is a public good, but is also an economic asset, which can be privatised. The Water Code separates the water from land ownership to allow for unconstrained purchase and sale of water, which means that there are people with land that have no water and people who have no land but do have water. While water was defined as a “national public good,” in the code, it was also defined as a “market asset,” allowing the privatization of water through the granting of rights for free. Once water rights are granted, the state no longer has the power to intervene and the reallocation of these water resources is done through the buying and selling of water markets. (Larrain & Schaeffer, 2010) However, the effect of the 1981 Water Code has been viewed by many as a disaster for the people of Chile and for the water supplies and the ecosystem. It has led to the concentration of ownership of Chile’s water by a handful of corporations, the majority of them being foreign and in the export sector. Three companies own 90% of the water rights for power generation nationwide. The Spanish power company, Endesa, recently acquired by state Italian company Enel, controls more than 80 per cent of the total national water rights for non-consumptive use, where water is returned to the watershed.
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In the valley of Copiapó water rights totalled double the volume of what the valley could provide, where the strength of snowfall and rain also were always scarce. This means that was rights granted for 90% of the country’s watersheds, especially from the north to the seventh region, as more water rights have been granted for the basins than there is available to be delivered (Budds, 2009). Water consumption in the three economic sectors experienced astonishing growth of 160 per cent between 1990 and 2002, and with the increase in demand for water, the wholesale price has also risen. Chilean government figures predict an exponential increase in water use by these companies in the coming decade. Chile’s water and sanitation sector distinguishes itself by the fact that every single one of the country’s twenty urban water companies is privately owned or operated. it is because of Pinochet, under his entirely autocratic watch that Chile’s “milagro económico” (economic miracle) took place. A key ingredient of this was the concept of privatization in general (hundreds of state-owned industries were sold off to the private sector) and of the privatization of the water sector in particular. Currently, Chile’s potable water and sewage services cover all or almost all of its urban population, and about 72 per cent of the population of rural area. This high coverage rate is credited to the open water markets created in 1981 when the new Water Code was enacted. Before 1981, the state had an active role in the determination, allocation, and termination of water rights, as well as the supervision of water use. The new legal regime of 1981 eliminated most of these government powers, allowing for the free transferability of water resources. The rationale for the new system was that users, as opposed to government agencies, are the most qualified stakeholders to determine key issues related to water, including its allocation, distribution, uses, and transference. Another factor that has benefitted the new legal regime is the possibility of submitting water disputes to arbitration before the board of a water users association, without prejudice to the appeals that aggrieved users may file with regular courts The Chilean water model has had significant effect on indigenous communities. The
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Above: “Progress advances, along with its consequences�. Politically motivated drought related poster found in La Serena, Chile. 2015.
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concentration of water rights in the hands of large business has led to an assault on both the surface and groundwater sources of the country, which is thus causing great ecological strain in many areas and creating tensions between local communities and the corporations. Local irrigation practices have been marginalized by reducing the water consumption of the indigenous population whilst keeping the copper mining industry and related growing urban populations supplied with water. The adverse effect of the Water Code in small communities is evident in the Atacameño community of Chiu-Chiu, located in the Atacama Desert in the southcentral Andes. In this community, the privatization of water rights ignored local water management practices that had produced a high altitude wetland. This led to the inhabitants’ dispossession of crucial water rights, and ultimately to wetland degradation (Prieto, 2015). Although reformed in 2005, Chilean water policy is still heavily influenced by the original water code set forth under Pinochet’s regime in 1981. As a result, many of the negative repercussions persist to this day. Recent protests in Santiago demanded the total abandonement of this policy, the details of which were outlined in a letter submitted to then President, Sebastián Piñera: “We have discovered that there is water in Chile, but that the wall that separates it from us is called ‘profit’ and was built by the [1981] water code, the constitution, international agreements like the binational mining treaty [with Argentina] and, fundamentally, the imposition of a culture where it is seen as normal for the water that falls from the sky to have owners,” (Jarroud, 2013) “This wall is drying up our basins, it is devastating the water cycles that have sustained our valleys for centuries, it is sowing death in our territories and it must be torn down now,” (Jarroud, 2013)
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ATACAMA DESERT The Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth. While a desert is commonly defined as an area that receives less than 250mm of rain annually, the Atacama receives less than 1mm on average (BBC, 2010). In many parts of the Atacama, no rainfall has ever been recorded, there are stories of children growing up in here and reaching adulthood never having seen a drop of rain (McKay, 2002). This state of hyper-aridity is the result of natural hydrological processes which have existed for millennia. In fact, research suggests that the Atacama has been in this dry state for at least 20 million years meaning it is perhaps the oldest desert in the world (Amos, 2005). The Atacama desert occupies a long, narrow strip located between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes in Northern Chile, and spilling over into parts of Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. The desert covers an area over 1000km long but just 180 km wide at its widest point. It is this location and its geographical features that make the desert so dry.
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A high pressure centre in the Pacific Ocean creates easterly trade winds that force ocean storms and the moisture they bring to the west, away from the western coast of South America (McKay, 2002). The position of the Andes to the East, the largest continental mountain range in the world, creates a ‘rain shadow’ effect that blocks any moisture from passing to the West over the mountain range (Amos, 2005). Despite the inhospitable nature of such an extreme environment, human occupation of the Atacama is historically common, and today the population living in the desert numbers over 1 million people. People have inhabited the Atacama for many centuries, occupying the few fertile valleys which intersect the vast desert, and channeling water from the Andes to satisfy their needs. Indigenous groups such as the Atacameños, Aymaras, Changos and Diaguitas lived across the Atacama desert until Incan invasion in the 15th Century (Educarchile, 2013). Many of native cultures strongly resisted occupation and continued to fight well into the Spanish colonial era. Today, around 20,000 people still identify as Atacameño in the area around the town of San Pedro de Atacama (Gobierno de Chile, 2003). During the Spanish occupation of the Atacama, the value of its natural resources was apparent from the outset. Early maps of Copiapó for example indicate abundant mineral deposits including gold, silver and iron ore surrounding the city. Copiapó itself would later become one of the most important cities in the region when it sparked the Chilean silver rush in 1832 (Sayago, 1874). Across the Atacama, numerous sequential periods of development followed this, including the mining of silver, nitrate and finally copper, which continues to this day. Although abundant mineral deposits brought people to this desert in the face of its adverse nature, in recent years it is the adverse nature in itself that has brought a new group of people to the desert. The Atacama’s dry climate makes it a unique opportunity for scientific research. The lack of humidity and moisture in the air mean that it is perhaps the best location in the world to view the night sky.
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Taking a section through the continent at each degree of latitude, we can see the prominence of the Andes mountain range which makes the Atacama so dry.
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Stills from an animated map of precipitable water in the atmosphere throughout October 2015. The dark rain shadow over the Atacama desert is visible near the centre of each frame. Map: Damon Burgett Data: NOAA
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As a result, the Atacama is an important site for astronomers, hosting the most powerful astronomical ground-based observatories on Earth (ALMA, 2015). Among these are Paranal and ALMA, two of the largest telescopes of their kind in the world. Paranal is the largest optical telescope facility in the Southern Hemisphere and is located around 120 km from Antofagasta. ALMA, which stands for the Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array, is a radio telescope and the largest ground based observatory facility in the world (Henao, 2012). It is located at 5000 metres above sea level to avoid as much atmospheric interference as possible. Both of these projects required international collaboration from some of the most advanced scientific bodies today. Another avenue for scientific research in the Atacama lies at ground level, where the lack of moisture leaves the surface completely devoid even of microbial life, making it the perfect Earth analogue for Mars like environments (McKay, 2002). As a result, NASA and the European Space Agency have both used sites at the centre of the Atacama as simulations for testing Mars rovers which now search for life on the planet.
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Above: A prototype of a Mars Rover which was tested in the Atacama desert and now stands in the Museum of the Atacama in Antofagasta.
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One of 66 radar telescopes which form the ALMA array. This module is at base camp undergoing repairs before it is transported back to the plateau using a custom made transport vehicle.
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THE GHOST TOWNS OF NITRATE Although the Chilean economy of today relies heavily on the mining of copper, it was the discovery of saltpeter reserves that brought about Chile’s initial prosperity in the mining industry. Saltpeter, chemically known as Potassium Nitrate, has a variety of functions, such as a food preservative, a main constituent of gunpowder, and primarily as a fertiliser However, the saltpeter mining boom of Chile ended abruptly in the 1930’s when synthetic nitrate was invented in Germany and began to encroach on the dominance that Chile’s nitrate industry. What had once provided 50% of Chile’s GDP was reduced to near zero within a few decades. 170 of Chile’s nitrate towns were abandoned throughout the Atacama Desert, with only one fully functioning today, María Elena (Garces, 2000). Urban relics of Chile’s saltpeter past can still be found in the form of the abandoned settlement of Santa Laura and Humberstone, which remains still relatively well preserved. Situated remotely in the Atacama the ruins now function as living museums, with the remnants of mining plants, workers’ quarters, and town hall still visitable.
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Maria Elena is the last of the remaining active saltpeter camps, yet exists on the verge of abandonment from its governing mining company. The town was founded in 1926 by the entrepreneurial Guggenheim family, and was built following a concentric ring arrangement, inspired by the plans of idealised European cities in the 16th and 17th century such as Palmanova in Northeast Italy (Garces, 2003). The planning of such cities was implemented with the intention of optimising production results (Garces, Apablaza, & Townsend, 2007). In spite of this, the scale of the town plan seems inappropriate in the climatic context of the Atacama Desert, characterised by wide avenues providing little shade, with a clear lack of recreational public space. The current state of the site is marked by a gradual abandonment and the continued decline of the population, creating an aura of uncertainty that is felt in the desolated streets. Many properties within the town centre lie abandoned, whilst the defunct mining plants of the surrounding area serves as a constant reminder of the historical exploitation of the territory. THE MODERN AGE OF COPPER The continuous growth of the copper industry in the 20th century has led to the formation of the modern mining town, with large expanding settlements scattered across the Atacama Desert such as Copiapó, Calama, and Antofogasta. These cities of copper function predominantly as the products of international companies, companies that exclusively control all productive and residential aspects of the city (Garces, 2003). The urban territory has gradually formed around the integrated infrastructure operations of the mining industry, with industrial buildings, mining equipment, housing and port infrastructure embedded in the everyday functioning of the urban landscape. Such cities have taken clear influence from the original company towns of Europe and America. There, capitalism is a dominant force, seeking maximum concentration of labour, housing and productive facilities. The term “company town” refers to the industrial city typologies emerged from the Industrial Revolution. As an urban model the mining town represents a complete alternative to the historic city with the
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assumption of a single new feature, the factory, with the single purpose of ensuring maximum production efficiency (Dal Co, 1975). The phenomenon of the mining camp is in abundance in Chile. Companies and employees have migrated in masses to remote desert locations in order to gain continuous and unrestricted access to reserves of minerals. However, there are consequences of inhabiting such a remote site. First and foremost of the restrictions are the extremity of the weather conditions, and furthermore, the lack of access to water and energy. It is unsurprising that so many of Chile’s inhabitants have been drawn to the prosperous industry of mining, plentiful in opportunities and wealth. However, the stark reality is that copper is a finite reserve, and unless a sustainable and attractive urban identity is enabled to flourish, the settlement will always be vunerable to the threat of abandonment by the company and its residents.
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THE MINING INDUSTRY OF CHILE Chile is currently one of the top mining powers in the world. The huge natural resources contained within the territory of the Atacama enable Chile to be a world leader in the production of copper, silver, gold, and lithium. Mining is vital to the country’s economic growth, with copper exports alone representing more than one third of government income. The importance of copper in today’s word has is rooted in the technological boom of the last few decades. Copper is now one of the most important metals used by modern industry, valued for its ability to conduct heat and electricity, with 66% of the copper consumed every year being used in electrical applications (Moran, 2014). At present Chile produces 32% of the world’s total copper, and thus attracts investment from some of the largest global mining corporations, such as Barrick, BHP Billiton, Antofagasta Minerals, Anglo American, and the national state company of Codelco (Exponor Chile, 2016). Such prosperity in the mining industry enables Chile to be an economic leader within South America, generating growth in population, energy, infrastructure and dependant industries. However, despite the economic potential for private investors in mining development, there are limitations the quantity and speed in which copper can be extracted, such as the occupation of mineral reserves by indigenous people and other communities, and the scarcity of water and energy.
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Global copper mine production in metric tonnes. Date: COCHILCO/ Chilean Copper Commission
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Total Chilean exports in 2014 equating to around $74 billion USD. Data: MIT
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THE COPPER MINING PROCESS The process of copper extraction and refining is complex, as pure copper is seldom found in mineral rich sites. Copper is usually found combined with other chemicals in the form of sulfide and oxide ores. Usually after the initial extraction of mineral rock from the site the ore is only 1.5 % pure copper of the overall ore weight. Sulfide ore is of a higher concentration of copper, and therefore requires a shorter process to purify and is more valuable, whilst oxide ore is more abundant in mineral reserves, but less valuable. These highly concentrated ores can be separated by smelting, whilst ores that are lowly concreted require a longer refinement process (Copper, 2016). Generally the mining process begins by drilling into the mineral rich rock and blasting with explosives, with the ore then being transported by vehicle to a nearby site for the refinery process. The excess material above the ore is initially removed to gain access to the more concentrated ore, which creates the spiralling open pit form that will expand to accommodate further ore extraction. An access road for mining vehicles is then formed to follow the spiralling walls of the pit (Resolution Copper, 2016). The copper ore then undergoes a sequential process of crushing from larger sized ore pieces to small sized rocks. Once the ore has been ground to an acceptable size the concentration is thickened, and mixed in solvent slurry in a water-filled aeration tank (Copper, 2016). Air is then forced through mixture, where the air bubbles become bound to the copper particles which move to the surface where they form froth which is then skimmed off. The copper froth then forms a final concentrate that is then sent for smelting (Madehow, 2016). Finally, the ore is subjected to electrolytic refining which produces an output of near pure copper concentrate in the form of copper cathodes (Madehow, 2016). It is normally in the form of cathodes that the copper is eventually transported via rail to shipping port for international export.
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Chilean copper exports by destination and value.
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WATER CONSUMPTION IN MINING The Atacama Desert is home to some of the richest copper and gold deposits in the world. However, several multi-billion dollar mine developments have been delayed recently due to water scarcity issues. In mining, water is required for a broad range of activities including mineral processing, dust suppression, slurry transport, and employee requirements. The mining industry has thus been forced to develop ways to reduce, reuse and recycle water around mine sites, and to treat water leaving mine sites according to strict environmental standards. Mining companies have thus been forced to seek alternative methods of water resourcing (Mining Technology, 2016). Mining is one of the few industries able to use water of lower quality than that desirable for human consumption. Considered solutions include the use of recycled water from domestic and industrial sources, or saline groundwater too salty for agricultural use. The use of seawater is also a solution that has been pioneered in several mines across Chile, most successfully in Minera Esperanza. From and towards the mine seawater is transported across through thousands of kilometres, through four pumping stations and higher than 2300m in altitude. Such a mine requires 20 million cubic metres of water per year to operate, or 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water per day (International Council On Mining & Metals, 2012). THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS OF MINING In Chile there has been a recent history of environmental concerns in the modernised mining cities, where the urban livelihood population has come under threat from contamination from mining tailings. The public perception of the mining industry is becoming increasingly fraught with frustration and anger in a number of environmental cases of conflict. Many indigenous villages have been faced with issues of water shortages, vegetation decrease, and environmental contamination due to mining operations (Prieto, 2015). Tailings dams contain the waste material that remains valuable minerals are separated from ore. For each tonne of fine copper produced, 100 tons of soil with toxic by-
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products must be removed and stored. The remaining solution usually consists of highly dangerous heavy metals, such as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead and copper, and can cause serious health problems upon human contact. Arsenic for example has no color, odor or taste, but if consumed in contaminated drinking water could cause cancer (Franklin, 2014). There is now a large presence of tailings dams scattered across the Atacama. A total of 450 identified tailings deposits are thought to be located in Chile, but with no comprehensive list of their locations. 90 of these toxic deposits alone are thought to be in the Atacama region. These tailings dams are normally deposited in creeks near towns and cities (IPS News, 2016). CHUQUICAMATA One of the most pertinent examples of environmental disruption has recently occurred in the settlement of Chuquicamata, where in 2005 the inhabitants of the settlement were forced to abandon the heavily polluted settlement. The nearby openpit mine of Chuquicamata is the largest of its kind in the world, and still functions as the mining and smelting centre for the surrounding area (Garces, Apablaza, & Townsend, 2007). The residents were moved from the company owned property in Chuquicamata to the nearby city of Calama, a relatively young mining town, with a major urban re-plan underway (Elemental, 2015). Calama is currently facing issues typical of new mining settlements in the Atacama, where the mono culture of mining provides much wealth, but little in the way of a diverse cultural identity. Such an identity is vital in attracting a non-mining related population to Calama for the purpose of education, work, leisure or tourism.
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Mine locations around Copiapรณ valley
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THE CITY OF COPIAPÓ The city of Copiapó is one of the major mining settlements of northern Chile, founded in 1744 and capital of the Atacama Region since the regionalisation of Chile in 1976. The city plan drawn prior to Copiapó’s foundation indicates the anticipation of future economic prosperity. The 1722 plan of San Francisco de la Selva (the name originally given to the territory now known as Copiapó) was annotated to suggest that the fertile plains and abundant mineral ore deposits would eventually sustain the economic and population growth of the city. Historic accounts of the city suggest that the prophecy of a fertile, oasis like settlement was accurate, as depicted in the 1908 representation of the river below.
Above: Rio Copiapo, Carlos Brandt, 1908
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AGRICULTURAL EXPANSION Whilst copper remained the main product of Chilean exports to the first half of the seventies, the industry was losing significance in the light of the new emerging export sectors. In the 1980s, during the restructuring country’s economic and export promotion new production areas were activated, in particularly fruit farming (National Environment Commission, 2007). The aim was to lessen Chile’s high dependence on the export of copper, which represented about 70% exports at the beginning of the seventies and had reduced to 47.4% in the mid- nineties (Jiron & Milla, 2008). The valley of Copiapó was one of the first suppliers of grape across the country, and in the last 30 years has sustained growth in the export of grapes. The agricultural conditions are favoured by intense geographical and climatic characteristics of the valley, such as high temperatures, solar radiation, many days of sunshine, the southern valleys facing north, and the soil quality. The technological advances of irrigation systems and the geographical conditions facilitated the grapes to ripen earlier than before those of the agricultural competitors in the Northern Hemisphere. This facilitated the penetration of the international market and allowed Chile to become the first fruit exporter in the southern hemisphere (Gwynne, 1997). A turning point in the agricultural history of Copiapo was where wine production began to exhibit greater stability as an industry than mining. In response to the agricultural expansion of the region, the rural population structure of the city has adjusted along the axis of the exportation transport routes of rail and road which pass through Copiapó and lead to the coastal port of Caldera, forming separate neighbourhood hubs on the three outer nodes of the city. The area to the west of Copiapó, Mirador, became dominated by agricultural expansion, comprising of vineyards, fruit processing units and storage warehouses (Jiron & Milla, 2008). Sadly the late effects of General Pinochet’s water code are evident in the agricultural area on the outskirts of town, where many of the once blooming vineyards lie abandoned and barren. The privatisation of the water market has enabled large mining
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companies to buy ground water from farmers at prices potentially greater than the worth of the grape sales themselves. It is estimated that over 30% of Copiapo’s vineyard farmers have therefore sold their water rights to mining companies, leaving the vineyards to die before moving on to another site (Moskvitch, 2012). This has led to the abandonment of thousands of hectares of farmland, and further shortages of fresh water in the surrounding rural communities (Government of Chile, 2005). WATER PROVISION IN COPIAPO The existing water infrastructure of Copiapó relies on the reservoir of Lautaro, 96km Southeast of Copiapó , and is the only reservoir purpose built in 1920 to serve the valley. The reservoir collects the waters from the rivers Pulido, Manflas, and Jorquera. Many aquifers are accumulated in the area of the Lautaro Reservoir, southeast of Copiapó, ranging in depths of between 200m and 500m. These water reserves contain water between the ground surface and the bedrock. However aquifers have been subject to extreme levels of demand, and with only a recharge of 19mm3 per year the local aquifers have been unable to sustain a recharge rate to meet demand (National Environment Commission Atacama Region, 2007). The aquifers that served the city for more than 15 years have been overexploited. Within 2 years it is reported that 19 of the 20 city aquifers have dried up, with only one still operational today (Government of Chile, 2005). Drinking water and wastewater services in Copiapó is currently supplied by Aguas Chañar, a privately owned company which controls the underground aquifers, reservoirs and water carrying road vehicles. The responsibility for water policy in Chile currently lies with the Ministry of Public Works, which grants water rights and promotes rural water supply and sanitation through its Department of Sanitation Programs. The responsibility for regulation is shared between the Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios (SISS), founded in 1990, the economic regulator in urban areas, and the Ministry of Health which controls drinking water quality standards in both urban and rural areas (Superintendencia de Servicios Sanitarios, 2016). In recent years the anticipated low or even non-existent flow of the river has left the city ill prepared for anything more than a small volume of water flow. This concern
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became critical in the March of 2015, where heavy rainfall transformed the usually hyper-arid landscape of Copiapó into a muddy wetland. An equivalent of 7 normal years of rainfall fell across a period of 12 hours, which left the region devastated by the floods, leaving at least 17 people dead and many more missing or homeless. The sudden rainfall was assumed to be connected with the El Nino phenomenon, a climatic occurrence where travelling current of warm ocean water generates an increase in evaporation, and therefore instigates more rainfall than is typical (The Guardian, 2015). THE WAR FOR WATER The root of Rio Copiapó’s diminishing flow is multifaceted, with causes such as climate change, desertification, and competing water-thirsty industries. Mining, agriculture, and a growing population all compete for access to the limited water resources in the valley. The previously granted water rights are estimated to represent almost 500% of the groundwater recharge rate, with the mining sector owns 17% of these rights and the agricultural sector holding 56%. The growing demand for an increasingly scarce water resource has resulted in the Copiapó basin being overexploited by 40% (Hunter, Gironás, Bolster, & Karavitis, 2015). Sadly the lush green riverbanks of 1908 Copiapó are now a far cry from the current city condition, where the cracked earth of the riverbed serves as a constant reminder of the city water troubles. Historically heavy water flow would occur in October when the mountain snow would thaw, but as a result of the intensive use of upstream water for mining and agriculture the water flow rarely reaches the city centre. Situated in the most arid region in the world the region only receives 28mm on average in annual precipitation. Solar radiation also causes high levels of evapotranspiration, resulting in a further loss of water availability in the valley (National Environment Commission Atacama Region, 2007).
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THE COAST The port of Caldera acts as part of an integrated urban system with Copiapo, providing an export depot for both mining and agricultural produce. The construction of the Copiapó to Caldera railway line in 1851 greatly increased connectivity and enabled services both within the city and internationally. The discovery of silver ore in Chañarcillo in 1832 placed a far greater demanded on the regional movement of materials, supplies and passengers. In the following years, the railroad was extended through the valley of Copiapó, stretching a total of 151 kilometres, enabling Copiapó to advance further as a globalised mining centre of Chile (National Environment Commission, 2007). The growth of the railway network also facilitated the immigration of a new working population to Copiapó, and concentrated the mining and agricultural centres of production along the Panamericana Norte highway and railway line in the direction of Caldera (National Environment Commission, 2007). The city of Caldera acts, in this regard, as part of an integrated urban system with Copiapó, each having corresponding influence on each other’s population dynamics and trade generation (Government of Chile, 2005).
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PUERTO VIEJO AND THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER Southwards of the marshland area where Rio Copiapรณ meets the Pacific Ocean is the informal settlement of Puerto Viejo. Historically, Puerto Viejo functioned as the primary port of Copiapรณ until 1850, when the first railroad of Chile was constructed between Caldera and Copiapรณ. Today, Puerto Viejo is a beach that is flooded in summer by thousands of holidaymakers, and deserted for the majority of the year, with a small population of permanent residents. The settlement is characterized by makeshift colourful structures, with little basic services and no water infrastructure. Water is transported from neighbouring towns by wheel, and energy is supplied by oil generators. The lack of facilities has resulted in the serious damage of the ecosystem of the sea border, where waste has been disposed of irresponsibly. A small community of residents are continuing to rally in support of the formal recognition of the coastal resort.
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CONCLUSION The world is approaching a fresh water crisis. As the population rises but the water cycle remains constant, what can be done to sustain our needs? Can we produce fresh water mechanically rather than rely on the natural cycle? From the outset of human civilisation, people have channeled water to meet their needs; from the aqueducts of the Roman Empire to those of California, and the megastructures of China today. Urban development simply cannot exist without such structures. Indeed, life does not exist without water. Is there a middle ground between the current binary system of state vs private water deliverance? Can water be delivered independently of large institutions? The city of Copiapรณ is a microcosm for many of these issues that are experienced on a global level. Located in the driest desert in the world, undergoing extreme physical water scarcity and strangled by capitalist water codes. It has been blessed with an abundance of mineral resources and fertile soil amid the arid plains of the Atacama Desert, yet struggles to fulfil its potential. The economic prosperity of mining and agriculture has provided the clear financial means to generate a solution, yet the city remains fragmented by opposing industries battling for water. Instead, we find a city generically commercialised by large franchises, and ignorant to the unique qualities and identity of the desert. If we believe, given the current climate, that water infrastructure will have a necessary role in future urban development, how do we approach its architectural manifestation? Is there an opportunity for a new hydrological typology?
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