Water Governance in the Context of IWRM: Chile - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 142

Table 8.2 Legal provisions of particular relevance to discussion in this topic: excerpts taken from the full text of the Chilean Governance Assessment (Torres 2010)

Code/law Articles and descriptions/original text

Chilean Constitution Article 24º recognises and guarantees the right of property. The right of ownership in its diverse aspects over all classes of

corporeal and incorporeal property. Only the law may establish the manner to acquire property and to use, enjoy and dispose
of it, and the limitations and obligations derived from its social function. Said function includes all the requirements of the
Nation's general interests, the national security, public use and health, and the conservation of the environmental patrimony

Article 24 (Right of
Property)

In no case may anyone be deprived of his property, of the assets affected or any of the essential faculties or powers of ownership,
except by virtue of a general or a special law which authorises expropriation for the public benefi t or the national interest, duly
qualifi ed by the legislator. The expropriated party may protest the legality of the expropriation action before the ordinary
courts of justice and shall, at all times, have the right to indemnifi cation for patrimonial harm actually caused, to be fi xed by
mutual agreement or by a sentence pronounced by said courts in accordance with the law
The rights of private citizens over waters, recognised or constituted in conformity with the law, shall grant proprietorship to the
owners thereof

Water Code Article 5 states that water is a national good of public use, for which particular rights of use can be awarded in compliance with

the regulations set out in the current Code (refer to Chilean Constitution, Art 18 (24) & Chilean Civil Code, Art 589)

Article 5
Article 122 The DGA is required to establish a Public Cadaster of Water

Article 129 bis 1 The Water Code has limited scope for protection of water related ecosystems. In issuing new water rights, the DGA has to protect

nature and the environment by establishing a 'minimum ecological fl ow' which will be applicable only to future allocation of
water rights. Such minimum water fl ow should not surpass the 20% annual mean fl ow of the superfi cial water course. In
exceptional cases, such limit if increased until the 40% (Art 129 bis 1). Another rule considered in the Water Code is its article
58 forbids explorations -and thus, exploitation- for water in headwater zones for wetlands in the north of Chile (Regions of
Tarapacá and Antofagasta), unless authorized by DGA. Moreover, its article 63 declares the same zones as 'prohibition areas',
where no further exploration and exploitation will be permitted, unless authorised by DGA

Article 129 bis 3 The DGA must establish a network of stations in each basin to monitor water quality, quantity and levels both in superfi cial and

subterranean waters. The information must be available to the general public

Article 299 The DGA must fulfi l certain functions, including: development planning of natural water sources, including recommendations on

how they are used; observation and monitoring of the resource, including maintaining and operating the national hydrology
service and supplying and publishing related information; commission technical studies for resource and infrastructure
planning; police water resources to avoid un-authorised destruction or modifi cation of hydrological work; in cases where a
Junta de Vigilancia is not legally constituted, to impede the extraction of water without rights or over-extraction