{"id":20003,"date":"2022-06-15T10:17:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T14:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/?p=20003"},"modified":"2022-08-03T10:23:25","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T14:23:25","slug":"we-beg-god-for-water-chilean-lake-turns-to-desert-sounding-climate-change-alarm-reuters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/we-beg-god-for-water-chilean-lake-turns-to-desert-sounding-climate-change-alarm-reuters\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We beg God for water\u2019: Chilean lake turns to desert, sounding climate change alarm (Reuters)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Penuelas reservoir in central Chile was until twenty years ago the main source of water for the city of Valparaiso, holding enough water for 38,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. Water for only two pools now remains.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photography by Ivan Alvarado <\/a> and Ailen Diaz and\u00a0reporting by Alexander Villegas and Rodrigo Gutierrez<\/p>\n

A huge expanse of dried and cracked earth that was once the lake bed is littered with fish skeletons and desperate animals searching for water.<\/p>\n

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Amid an historic 13-year drought, rainfall levels have slumped in this South American nation that hugs the continent\u2019s Pacific coast. Higher air temperatures have meant snow in the Andes, once a key store of meltwater for spring and summer, is not compacting, melts faster, or turns straight to vapor.<\/p>\n

The drought has hit mine output in the world\u2019s largest copper producer, stoked tensions over water use for lithium and farming, and led capital Santiago to make unprecedented plans for potential water rationing.<\/p>\n

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\u00abWe have to beg God to send us water,\u00bb said Amanda Carrasco, a 54-year-old who lives near the Penuelas reservoir and recalls line fishing in the waters for local pejerrey fish. \u00abI\u2019ve never seen it like this. There\u2019s been less water before, but not like now.\u00bb<\/p>\n

The reservoir needs rainfall \u2013 once reliable in winter but now at historic lows, said Jose Luis Murillo, general manager of ESVAL, the company that supplies Valparaiso with water.<\/p>\n

\u00abBasically what we have is just a puddle,\u00bb he said, adding that the city now relied on rivers. \u00abThis is especially significant if you think that several decades ago the Penuelas reservoir was the only source of water for all greater Valparaiso.\u00bb<\/p>\n

Behind the issue, academic studies have found, is a global shift in climate patterns sharpening natural weather cycles.<\/p>\n

Normally, low-pressure storms from the Pacific unload precipitation over Chile in winter, recharging aquifers and packing the Andes mountains with snow.<\/p>\n

But naturally occurring warming of the sea off Chile\u2019s coast, which blocks storms from arriving, has been intensified by rising global sea temperature, according to a global study <\/a> on sea temperature and rainfall deficits. Ozone depletion and greenhouse gasses in the Antarctic, meanwhile, exacerbate weather patterns that draw storms away from Chile, according to a study <\/a> on variables affecting Antarctic weather.<\/p>\n

\u2018WATER TOWERS\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Analysis of tree rings going back 400 years shows how rare the current drought is, said Duncan Christie, a researcher at the Center for Climate and Resilience in Chile. It is totally unrivalled for duration or intensity.<\/p>\n

He said that meant the Andes \u2013 which he called the country\u2019s \u00abwater towers\u00bb \u2013 were not getting a chance to replenish, which in turn meant that as snow melted in spring there was far less water to fill rivers, reservoirs and aquifers.<\/p>\n

Miguel Lagos, a civil engineer and water specialist, traveled to measure snow cover near the Laguna Negra station in central Chile some 50\u00a0kilometers (31\u00a0miles)\u00a0east of Santiago \u2013 part of a process to estimate summer water supply.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A sign reading ‘Fishing Area’ hangs next to a pier structure at the former Aculeo lagoon, while Chile is suffering its worst drought in decades, at Paine, in Santiago, Chile April 20, 2022. REUTERS\/Ivan Alvarado<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A combination picture shows dead fish on the ground of the former Penuelas lake in Valparaiso, Chile April 19, 2022. A huge expanse of dried and cracked earth that was once the lake bed is littered with fish skeletons and desperate animals searching for water. REUTERS\/Ivan Alvarado<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00abThere was just nothing,\u00bb he told Reuters. \u00abThere were so few precipitation events and such warm conditions that the snow melted that same winter.\u00bb<\/p>\n

As snow compacts, creating new layers, this helps keep it colder for longer. But with warmer weather and less snowfall, Lagos said, top layers of snow were melting faster or turning straight to vapor, a process called sublimation.<\/p>\n

A 2019 study <\/a> in the International Journal of Climatology that analyzed Chile\u2019s drought from 2010 to 2018 said shifting weather events could ease the drought in future, but much would depend on the trajectory of human emissions impacting climate.<\/p>\n

Segundo Aballay, an animal breeder in the Chilean village of Montenegro, is praying change comes soon.<\/p>\n

\u00abIf it doesn\u2019t rain this year we will be left with nothing to do,\u00bb he said. \u00abThe animals are getting weaker and dying day by day.\u00bb<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for agriculture workers like Aballay, researchers at the University of Chile predict the country will have 30% less water over the next 30 years, based on mathematical models and historic data.<\/p>\n

\u00abWhat we call a drought today will become normal,\u00bb Lagos said.<\/p>\n

In the Laguna de Aculeo, another dried up lake south of Santiago, local campsite manager Francisco Martinez recalled hundreds of people coming to the area to take out kayaks or swim in the waters.<\/p>\n

Now rusting piers and old boats sit in the barren landscape. An eerie island in the middle of what was once water rises up above the dust.<\/p>\n

\u00abNow there is no water, it is a desert here,\u00bb Martinez told Reuters. \u00abThe animals are dying and there is nothing to do here in the lagoon any more.\u00bb<\/p>\n

Read at Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Penuelas reservoir in central Chile was until twenty years ago the main source of water for the city of Valparaiso, holding enough water for 38,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. Water for only two pools now remains. Photography by Ivan Alvarado and Ailen Diaz and\u00a0reporting by Alexander Villegas and Rodrigo Gutierrez A huge expanse of dried […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20003"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20008,"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20003\/revisions\/20008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cr2.cl\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}