Various advances presented in a project to improve the management of water resources in the Elqui River Basin

simca elqui 1

The purpose of the initiative is to implement and transfer capabilities to improve the management of available water resources and the efficiency of water conduction, seeking informed and timely distribution, and applying a methodology for determining losses and prioritizing public-private investments.

The project presents a series of advances to date: “Design and implementation of a flow monitoring system and a protocol for determining water losses, for the prioritization of public-private investments” (SIMCA-Elqui) , which is executed by the Laboratory for Prospecting, Monitoring and Modeling of Agricultural and Environmental Resources (PROMMRA) of the Department of Agronomy of the University of La Serena, thanks to financing from the Innovation Fund for Competitiveness, FIC-R 2013 of the Region of Coquimbo. 

The initiative, which has the collaboration of the Surveillance Board of the Elqui River and its Tributaries, and with the support of the Illapel River Surveillance Board and the Estero Derecho Surveillance Board, aims to implement and transfer capabilities to improve the management of available water resources and the efficiency of water conduction, seeking an informed and timely distribution, and applying a methodology for determining losses and prioritizing public-private investments. The project hopes to contribute to the solution of the identified problem, by contributing to increasing the net availability of water resources through the optimization of its distribution and increasing conduction efficiency. For this, it has an execution period of 24 months and a total budget of $166.250.000.

simca elqui 2Its execution began in July 2014, and is divided into 4 major stages: Design of a Flow Monitoring Station System for Timely Water Management; Protocol for Measuring Water Losses due to conduction in artificial channels (canals) validated and implemented; Methodology for prioritization and selection of public-private investment, for coating infrastructure improvement projects; and Water Management Transfer Program. 

According to what was reported by the ULS academic, Dr. Héctor Reyes, in charge of dissemination of the project, geo-referenced information has already been collected from the fluviometric stations installed in the Elqui River basin, from the intakes and from the floodgates. delivery of the canals that belong to the Surveillance Board of the Elqui River and its Tributaries. In addition, the main characteristics of the intake works were detailed, such as the size of the intake, type of intake, length, among others. This information was used for the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) of the canal network of the Elqui River Basin.

Likewise, he indicated that a topographic survey was carried out of the 6 flow monitoring points planned to be installed, defined jointly between the Surveillance Board of the Elqui River and its Tributaries and the SIMCA project team. Gauges (flow measurement in channels) were also carried out at each of the monitoring points selected for the basin. This activity is part of the definition of the criteria for the implementation of a new flow monitoring network in the basin.

Meanwhile, in the month of October 2014, the characterization phase of the network channels began, an activity that includes the description of variables such as the dimensions of the conductive section, the type of channel composition material and types Coating. The objective of this activity is to obtain detailed information on these sections, which are part of the base information of the Geographic Information System (GIS).

And in the month of April of this year, the gauging stage began in the channels downstream of the Puclaro Reservoir. This activity is part of the application of the Loss Protocol defined by the project for the evaluation of the flows of each channel. The application of this protocol will allow estimating the conduction losses that occur in the channels, both coated and uncoated. The data obtained will be part of the information necessary for prioritizing investments in canal lining.

According to Dr. Héctor Reyes, to date a good part of the work carried out is on the ground, “which has been very profitable and at the same time gratifying, since our team has found great willingness on the part of irrigators and farmers as well as the channel leaders to be able to access the channels and carry out the different measurements. We are close to holding workshops to disseminate the results achieved to date, in which we hope to have the participation of irrigators and local actors in water management."