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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
John Bartlett in Pintué

‘Consequences will be dire’: Chile’s water crisis is reaching breaking point

Chile Gabriel Boric AFPGetty Images MARTIN BERNETTI Santiago National Security
A pier at the dried Aculeo Lake in Paine, in 2019. For decades the lake was one of the main tourist attractions of Santiago's surroundings.
A pier at the dried Aculeo Lake in Paine, in 2019. For decades the lake was one of the main tourist attractions of Santiago's surroundings. Photograph: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images

From the Atacama Desert to Patagonia, a 13-year megadrought is straining Chile’s freshwater resources to breaking point.

By the end of 2021, the fourth driest year on record, more than half of Chile’s 19 million population lived in an area suffering from “severe water scarcity”, and in April an unprecedented water rationing plan was announced for the capital, Santiago.

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