From uncertainty to environmental impacts: reflection on the threats to water in Chacabuco Province (Chile): a combined approach in social sciences and geochemistry

This article discusses the uncertainty about water quality in the Province of Chacabuco (Santiago Metropolitan Region) in Chile, a region marked by very strong pressure on the resource, both natural (drought) and anthropogenic (urban growth, agricultural intensification, industrialisation, and mining activity). Our main objective was, through an interdisciplinary research approach, to understand how the uncertainty concerning the state of hydro systems becomes central in the social representations of the inhabitants, since there is no consensus amongst regional stakeholders about environmental impacts nor is there evidence of pollution. By cross-referencing geochemical data on water quality and the inhabitants’ discourse on the resource, we identified those factors that create uncertainty about water resources: institutional lack of knowledge of the state of the resource, scientific difficulties in understanding the functioning of the hydro system, water and ground quality data that are difficult to interpret given the persistent drought, and the inhabitants’ distrust of data producers, in a context of planned regulatory zoning of polluting activities in the area. We also show the negative effects that the lack of trustworthy information has on the daily lives of local communities living near industrial infrastructures: anxiety, health concerns, and mistrust of drinking water, even though it is potable.