Building a Collaborative Water Governance Model in Chile

This article analyses the transformations to the water model adopted in Chile since the implementation of the Water Code reform of 2022. On the one hand, this new regulatory framework limits the commodification of water use rights imposed by the Water Code of 1981. On the other hand, it prioritises human consumption and other uses that have so far been subordinated to the productive use of water. From an interdisciplinary perspective of the social and legal sciences, focusing on three case studies from the central-south zone of Chile (Aconcagua, Maule, and Toltén), this paper highlights the impact of the reform in terms of correcting the abrupt inequalities in the allocation or distribution of resources, as well as its multiple challenges to effectively assess other uses, such as domestic, ecosystemic, non-extractive, and ancestral ones, also advocating for land–water integrity in Indigenous territories. Through an approach grounded in social and legal water studies and a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews conducted with water users and stakeholders involved in water policy at the local and regional levels between 2023 and 2024, we show how this regulatory change is shaping a favourable scenario for transitioning from a model based on the market allocation of rights to collaborative water governance. We also prove that the reform has strengthened the concept of public interest in the effective use of water and promoted equity in its access and redistribution. Despite these contributions, this study poses complex challenges in its implementation and interpretation that could, in turn, reinforce the historical gaps associated with water.