Josef G. Knoll Visiting Professorship for Development

Research

General information on Chile irrigation system

Hamil Uribe

Documentation of Research: 5/2006

Copyright 2006 by Hamil Uribe. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies.

1) How much water is taken up at river nodes, how does the JdV decide on water allocation at each weir (“bocatoma”)? How does the JdV handle excess water?

o The JdV obtain flow information from stream gauge located in the rivers. Also they have information of the water right in each main channel taking up water directly from the river. According to the flow and water right the JdV calculate a water rate per action (flow divided per total of water right). In this form they know how much water to permit goes out in each outlet (bocatoma). The physical quantification of the water entering to the main channel is not easy, because the outlet are built annually with river material and normally there are not gauge structures. Normally the water extractions start in September, without regulation until November, when the thaw finishes. In this moment the water supply start to make scarce, and the regulation is necessary. The regulations have different characteristics for each river, reason why will be decrypted separately in the next table.

Water distribution Information for different river in the project area.

Questions

Organization Number of actions or regadores distribute and their flow (Lt/s/acc or Lt/s/regador)?

How and where they measure water flow river?

How they calculate the water (L/s/acc)?

What do with the remainder water?

They leave minimum volume in summer?

Association Putagán Channel

4.286 acc, equivalent a 1 Lt/s/acc. Although they can get to extract 5m3, according to resolution of the DGA

It is not stream gauge. All the measurements are presumed (it is human estimated)

As sections do not exist of gauging, a visual calculation is made.

They extract until the maximal channel capacity. The remnant continues in the river.

A minimum volume is left, but also one calculates in visual form

JdeV Ancoa 7.418 acc, equivalent a 1Lt/s/acc

The flow is measured in " El Morro stream gauge” (DGA). Two daily measurements are made, at 8:00 and 18:00 hrs everyday. Also satellite measurements in real time are made.

They calculate the aliquot from the water flow measured in the steam gauche, discounting the volume of Melado Channel right.

They extract until the maximal channel capacity. The remnant continues in the river. This is for the period until November.

The minimum volume is 300 L/s in a sector of approximately 1 km in length before to joint Ancoa and Achibueno rivers.

JdeV Achibueno 13.309 acc of right

permanent, with a maximum volume of 1.5 Lt/s/acc. Altogether they count on 19.963.5 Lt/s

The flow is measured in "La Recoba stream gauge” (DGA). Also satellite measurements in real time are made. Every three months they make a recalibration of the discharge curve.

According to the water flow measured and number of water right, they calculate the aliquot.

They extract until the maximal channel capacity. The remnant continues in the river.

The extraction efficiency is not 100%. Then normally 3-5% of the water is running in the river, for water left or water recovered.

JdeV Longaví 20.920 acc. of permanent right (1,5 L/s/acc) more 13.620 L/s of eventual right. On this amount it gives water to the Digua dam, which has 25m3/s. By as much Digua can extract up to 70 ms3

The flow is measured in "Quiriquina stream gauge” (DGA). Also satellite measurements in real time are made.

A program is made for define the water rate considering the water accumulated in Bullileo dam. The lower irrigation rate is equivalent to 0.8 L/s/acc. Until this value they suggest to make agricultural production. For lower Values, they suggest to leave the water for animal drinking.

They extract until the maximal channel capacity. The remnant continues in the river.

The extraction efficiency is not 100%. Then normally 5% of the water is leave in the river.

Bocatomas in the rivers The water distribution in the project zone is complex, principally because there are different water sources whish distribute in common areas and using the same channels. There are five main sources for water: a) Putagan; b) Ancoa; c) Achibueno and d) Longavi rivers; and e) Melado System. The irrigated areas from rivers are mixed no so much, but the Melado System is more complex, taking water from Melado river (out of the project zone) and putting it in the Ancoa river and after to Putagan, Ancoa and Longaví irrigation areas. In each river there are several points where the channels take water for irrigation. The list of bocatomas is presented in the next four tables. For each bocatoma a code was defined. The location is in UTM, datum Prov. Sudamerican 1956, zone 19. Also is showed the quantiy of water right for the river and Melado system and the side (lado) in whish the channel distribute the water. Putagan river bocatomas. NOMBRE CODE E N Putagan Lado Melado Primavera 104.00 281118 6030293 40 i 0 Campos 107.00 278244 6031479 379 d 0 El Carmen 105.00 280837 6030382 80 i 0 Soledad 102.00 287242 6031186 0 i 8 Putagan 110.00 266157 6037678 4251 i 0 Viznaga Leiva 111.00 261129 6036688 1004 d 0 Melozal Matriz 112.00 260040 6036883 2000 i 0 ROBLERIA 800.00 294846 6030478 0 i 212 Rabones 101.00 293543 6031093 0 d 49 Putagan-Matanza 103.00 285840 6030882 0 d 130 Putagan-Quiuquenes 106.00 279235 6031087 0 i 15 El Pato 108.00 276451 6033085 0 d 12 San Bartolome 109.00 273455 6036488 110 i 0 Ancoa river bocatomas NOMBRE CODE MELADO ANCOA E N LadoAlamos-Lama 203 120 2000 282732 6022392 d Barros Nort 210 0 9 278365 6022187 d Villega Ben 218 0 45 268318 6022881 d Bomba Patag 225 0 60 261942 6026085 i San Antonio 213 1 6 275729 6023277 d

El Molino 201 0 8 292751 6023785 i Enc Let Mon 205 228 2000 281644 6022182 d Espinela 207 0 2 281039 6021967 i Ferrada Iba 224 12 163 262097 6026079 d Fuentealba 217 0 58 268770 6022879 i Gaete 204 0 1 282252 6022178 i Gonzalez Ib 222 8 177 262749 6025885 d Ibanez 216 0 600 274552 6022871 d Ibarra-Vasq 212 0 153 276142 6023437 i Canada Zara 211 103 442 276640 6023282 d Leiva 208 0 1 280142 6021581 i ALIM LLEPO 400 767 0 278615 6022082 i Rojas L Rob 221 1 140 265546 6024197 i Maitenes 226 12 239 261347 6027476 d Margarita 223 8 285 262340 6025978 d Munoz 214 0 100 275046 6023289 d palacios 220 0 23 267845 6023177 d Pando-Der 209 67 710 278921 6021978 d Retamal Anc 206 0 2 281466 6022171 i San Bartolo 219 0 140 268046 6022961 i san Juan 215 0 11 274742 6022985 i Vecinal 202 0 45 288980 6023077 i MELADO 500 1504 0 308641 6028880 d ROBLERIA 600 212 0 300748 6029579 d Achibueno river bocatomas NOMBRE CODE E N Melado Achibueno Lado Longavi-Melado 700 274946.97 6018867.22 561 0 i ALIMENTADOR LLEPO 400 274944.93 6018777.94 767 0 d Pena 302 277648.82 6014678.27 0 30 d Gallego 303 277549.86 6014580.91 0 30 d MESAMAVIDA-CUARTA 304 274944.89 6018963.98 0 2981 i CASTRO 305 274948.20 6019069.40 0 130 i SAN LUIS 306 274949.06 6019173.53 40 1423 i TAPIA VASQUEZ 307 275044.83 6019680.01 0 975 i QUINE 308 273348.02 6021477.11 8 208 i CIA DE FORSFOROS 309 273435.84 6021478.51 0 300 i EL ALMENDRO 311 272437.90 6022782.90 35 1933 d ULISES ALARCON 313 267948.79 6023034.91 4 330 i BODEG S Luis S Ram Rec 314 267647.47 6023297.96 61 1457 i HUAPI VALDERRAMA TUC 312 269846.52 6023088.79 5 1137 d LA AGUADA-SAN GABRIEL 315 266649.93 6023886.83 0 1739 i MOLINO OLATE URRUTIA 301 277742.08 6014576.05 0 60 d

LA ISLA 310 272541.51 6022687.01 0 0 d YANEZ ROJAS 316 265755.80 6024085.52 0 30 d CUELLAR O HIMEO 318 260452.25 6028379.39 0 659 i TAPIA 317 260666.94 6028379.91 0 815 i ALVAREZ FUENTEALBA 319 260446.12 6028507.45 0 300 i LOYOLA 320 259047.07 6029082.17 0 626 i Longaví river bocatomas Nombre Code E N AccAlimentador Diagua 900 273043.8 5986884.4 Quinta Alta A 401 272542.4 5987481.0 S Jose 5ta Al B- Amal 402 271243.1 5987781.1 San Marcos 403 268549.3 5991990.1 San Nicolas 404 267945.5 5992883.1 La Sexta- La Tercera 405 267140.3 5993981.1 Robles Nuevos 406 265446.8 5995585.7 Robles Viejos 408 263341.4 5997285.9 Quinta Abajo 407 265073.8 5996287.9 Nogales-Molino 409 262132.1 5997986.8 San Iganacio 410 262038.6 5998092.4 Copihue 411 260840.7 5999191.0 Retiro 412 259638.0 6000379.3 Las Mercedes 413 259449.6 6000693.3 Rosas- La Piedad 414 259241.9 6000780.2 Primera Arriba 415 258544.6 6002396.3 Carmen-Gragino 416 257831.7 6003981.0 Maitenes-Cunao 417 257944.0 6004164.3 Primera Abajo 418 256038.7 6006668.5

2) How does the water rental market work? The rental market is not well developed in the zone, principally because the water distribution systems are fixes. Normally it is possible only between neighbor farms, using water from the same channel. When some farmer doesn’t use the water, totally or partially, he can rent the water for the season to other farmer. Maybe the principal limitation for better work the rental market is the distribution system used, wish is not mobile.

Modeling Bocatomas Now it’s not possible to model all the bocatomas. Then they were grouped in section of the rivers. The figure show the bocatomas grouped and theirs drainages areas (Subcatchment).

No all the subcatchments in the figure represent bocatomas. In the next table are numbered the bocatomas and their location and assigned codes.

Bocatomas Code E N Name

51 270841 5987989 Bocatoma_Longavi_51 52 265836 5995085 Bocatoma_Longavi_52 53 256343 6006185 Bocatoma_Longavi_53 41 274945 6018783 Bocatoma_Achibueno_4142 273539 6022193 Bocatoma_Achibueno_4231 273646 6022488 Bocatoma_Ancoa_31 22 266046 6037684 Bocatoma_Putagan_22 43 263150 6025487 Bocatoma_Achibueno_4321 287086 6031183 Bocatoma_Putagan_21 60 288044 6037580 Bocatoma_Rari_River 400 278615 6022082 ALIM LLEPO_Ancoa 600 300747 6029579 ROBLERIA_Ancoa 900 273044 5986884 Alimentador Diagua 9 292445 6023681 Bocatoma_Ancoa_09

Water Right for Bocatomas For spatial assignation of water right a union of the information from EDIC-CEDEC study and subcatchment from Wasim-ETH (from pour-points of bocatomas and flow station) were used. Subcatchment must be considered because are necessaries for run Wasim-ETH model. The EDIC-CEDEC study contributed with the quantity of water right for each sector, whereas subcatchment indicate in wish basin is located the water for modeling its spatial movement.

3) What are policy interventions (e.g. subsidies) that are intended to change

benefit distribution in Chile? In Chile there are two kinds of incentives for irrigation and drainage investment. A) The law 18.450 or irrigation law is an incentive for big, medium and little farmers, managed for the CNR (National Commission for Irrigation), organism composed of several Ministries and presided for the Agricultural Ministry. The farmers contract to consultant for irrigation project presentation to competitions. The irrigation project compete for money with others projects, considering the unitary cost ($/ha), incremental surface and percentage of farmer contribution (until 75% of the project cost) and must pass a strict technical check. Several competitions are distributed in the year, being differenced for kind of farmers, water sources or zones. When the projects are selected, the farmers receive a bonus, which will be paid after to install the irrigation system or build the structures. That means the farmer must have or

borrow the money. The project can be presented for individual farmer or legal organizations as water communities or channel group, who must be water and soil owners legally documented. In case of little farmers, normally can participate of this subside with INDAP helping.

B) The INDAP (National Institute for Agricultural Development) is dependent of Agricultural Ministry and help to little farmers to several areas, including the Irrigation Farm Program. The INDAP put money directly to the farmer, without competition and cover partially the costs until 75%. In this case the water and soil properties are more flexible, doing possible to incentives to farmers not water and/or soil owners, because they can not be accepted in the Irrigation Law. Generally the farmers’ contribution is in labors or some materials without cost for them (sand, etc.). The project can be individual or collectives. When the farmers do not pay, they are excluded for subsidies.

Irrigation Projects

Not Selected(Technical or Legal

Problems)Selected

Not Financed

Check

Concourse

Finaced

Installation

Pay

Check

Irrigation Projects

Not Selected(Technical or Legal

Problems)Selected

Not Financed

Check

Concourse

Finaced

Installation

Pay

Check

Also INDAP help to the little farmers to participate in the Irrigation Law 18.450 paying to consultant for the design and presentation of the projects. Further INDAP can lend money to the farmers to build or install.