The Community Engagement Unit brought together the academic, public, private and civil society sectors to analyze the current scenario regarding the management, use and responsible consumption of water resources in the most populated area of the country.
Among the Community Engagement tools that the San Sebastián University has to address the various problems that affect the territories and their communities, there is the Territorial Advisory Council , which is constituted as a space for information, dialogue and reflection on matters relating to the management and development of community engagement in the territory where each branch of the University is located .
This Council suggests regionally relevant problems and challenges that the University can address through teaching, research and community engagement, generating initiatives, projects or programs; it also proposes the creation of networks, agreements and partnerships with productive sectors, public entities and civil society organizations that contribute to the progress of the territories .
At the Santiago headquarters, the first session of this Council was held, which addressed the topic of Water Sustainability , with the objective of generating a space for discussion and analysis on the challenges and opportunities associated with the management, use and responsible consumption of water resources , especially in the context of climate change and the need to implement measures at the territorial level for its adaptation.
The event was led by the Vice-Rector for Community Engagement at USS, Antonio Pujol ; the General Director of Community Engagement, Diego Ramírez ; and the Director of Community Engagement at the Santiago campus, María Carolina Fernández . Also participating were the deans Maria Emilia Undurraga , from the Faculty of Natural Sciences , and Federico Casanello , from the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture, and Design , both of which carry out various research and community engagement projects related to the topic.
Representatives from GHI (Management-Hydrology-Engineering), Imagine Lab , Remote Waters , the Maipo River Water Users Association , the Mallarauco Canal , the Ministry of Agriculture , UC Davis , and Desafío Levantemos Chile attended the meeting . Also presenting were Ray Gallegos , an academic from the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture, and Design who leads several rural drinking water projects, and Federico Errázuriz , director of the USS Water Center.
Voices
Antonio Pujol, Vice-Rector of Community Engagement at USS, expressed his gratitude for the participation and mentioned that “the scope of these practices of meeting with authorities throughout the country, through the Territorial Advisory Councils, began in 2016, which has allowed us to focus our interventions and contributions on problems specific to the regions .”
In this regard, Ernesto Veres, manager of the Maipo River 1st Section Water Users Association , stated that “the academic world must be a generator of changes that can be transformed into public policies. In this whole issue of water, an academic perspective is lacking to analyze what Chile truly needs .” Meanwhile, Carlos Rubilar, strategic communicator for water resources at GHI, congratulated the USS “for what it is doing to reduce the existing water gap, which stems from a lack of information. Universities should be able to consolidate existing data on the subject and disseminate it , which would greatly contribute to reducing these gaps.”
For her part, Liliana Villanueva, Coordinator of Programs and Projects at the Ministry of Agriculture , stated that “we must stop thinking of water as an infinite resource. We must treat it as a finite resource and emphasize that work should focus on that. Solutions must be planned differently for each level and geographic area, given that the realities are diverse in each region of the country.”
Information on water resources
A recurring theme in the debate was the lack of information about the resource. Raúl Vigneaux, manager of the Mallarauco Canal , pointed out that “we often make decisions without the necessary or sufficient information, trying to manage water based on impulses and beliefs. We must understand the reality, and academia must provide that perspective of what is really happening through its research and community outreach. It is positive that the University is working on various initiatives to avoid making visceral decisions .”
For his part, Rodrigo Riquelme, Partnerships Coordinator at UC Davis , stated that “ universities have an obligation to serve people who lack access to academia . The rural world, in general, relies on subsistence farming, and it's difficult to reach them and understand their needs and challenges.” Meanwhile, Juan Pablo Fuentealba, Public Sector Innovation Leader at Imagine Lab, suggested that “universities can begin working with the various productive sectors that require water resources. We're talking about users who don't understand how academic work functions; therefore, we must make knowledge accessible to the end user of water, because social transformation is crucial .”
Investigation
Pablo Cassorla, founder of the startup Remote Waters, stated that another issue to address is research: “Regarding water quality, we are behind in terms of regulations. In fact, we trust bottled water more than tap water. Currently, no research is being conducted on emerging contaminants , such as hormones, which are not included in the regulations. In other words, there are no cutting-edge studies on the impact of water quality on human health .”
“Each territory is unique. There are cultural and educational issues that converge with water-related matters. That's why we must be able to train people so they can be sustainable and self-reliant in order to make the best decisions,” noted Franck Oyarzún, Coordinator of Administration and Finance, Rural Development at Desafío Levantemos Chile.