Water Governance in the Context of IWRM: Chile - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 139

non-consumptive water users, a lack of transparency and information concerning
the market and registered water rights as well as mounting challenges from envi-
ronmental externalities and the lack of river basin management (Bauer 2004 ) . Due
to the limited scope of 2005 amendments, water governance remains dominated by
the provisions set in the 1981 Water Code, but is also impacted by the Energy and
Mining Codes (Tables 8.1 and 8.2 ).

8.2.1 Accountability

In Chile, the Constitution (Art 12 (2)) provides for the right of equality before the
law, as well as the more recent right to a clean environment and protection of the
environment (Framework Environmental Law 19.300). Despite provisions for clear
timeframes in court procedures (Water Code, Art 129 bis 11), a number of stake-
holders alluded to the time and financial barriers that the court process entailed for
effective and expedient conflict resolution. Instances of corruption were also
reported, such as the circumvention of the EIA process during the government proj-
ect to build motorway, resulting in damaging impacts on the Aconcagua River. The
weak enforcement capability was also brought up in interviews, in terms of the
DGA's inability to stop illegal extractions of groundwater unless it is denounced by
a water user. Furthermore, interviewees and literature alike point to a lack of agency
for stakeholders involved in day to day water issues to influence the system or chal-
lenge decisions by governmental bodies. Some studies have pointed to the numer-
ous situations where an individual or company's personal bargaining power
outweighs any legal norms in conflict resolution or interest coordination (Bauer
1997 ; Carruthers 2001 ) .

8.2.2 Transparency

Article 31 bis (Environmental Law) provides for the right to access to environmen-
tal information 1 held by authorities, in accordance with the Constitution (Art. 19
(12, 14)) as well as Law 20.285 concerning access to public information. With
respect to water resources information, water rights owners are required to register
water rights with the ' Conservador de Bien Raices ' in the ' Registro de Aguas '
(Water Code, Art 112). However, it is the overall responsibility of the DGA to main-
tain a consolidated information system on the water rights through the ' Cadaster
Publico de Aguas ' (Water Code, Art 120-122). However, the water market was
referred to by a number of stakeholders as 'dark' market, with a complete lack of

1 The process for access to environmental information is described in the Law of Access to Public
Information (20.285, Art. 10-30).