With presentations from our leaders and researchers, we completed another participation in the technical conference on water management in mining, organized by Gecamin.
At this latest edition of the Water Congress, Camila Cabrera, a researcher in the Social Performance and Resource Governance area at SMI-ICE-Chile, presented the topic: «Hyperlocal Water Monitoring: Experience of Indigenous Organizations’ Participation in New Technologies.» This presentation showcases the water management work of an Atacama community in an area near San Pedro de Atacama, a region with significant water scarcity.
Also participating in this project is researcher Camila Sandoval, from the C+ Engineering Center at the Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD).
With this community, we are working on the co-creation of a tool that models water supply and demand, connecting technical and local knowledge, providing communities with accessible and context-specific information. «This project,» explained Camila Cabrera, «seeks to strengthen water governance through transparency and participation, with verifiable evidence that supports both community assemblies and decision-making with state institutions.»
She also emphasized that, although designed for a highly local context, the model can be adapted to other territories or key economic areas, demonstrating its potential as a tool for broader water security.
Nicolás Orellana, junior researcher with the Environmental Rehabilitation and Ecosystem Dynamics team, presented on «Strategies for Mine Contact Water Management (MCW) in a Climate Change Context.»
MCW refers to all water that has been in contact with mining areas or materials and therefore requires special handling to avoid contamination. Proper management is central to the environmental sustainability of mining, ecosystem protection, and regulatory compliance.
The paper presented by Nicolás Orellana identifies anomalies in the time series of precipitation and flows, deviations from historical trends, and some increases in the concentrations of dissolved metals and anions in the water of the receiving body. “This scenario is part of a climate change context, characterized by increasing water volumes and accelerated melting processes, causing flows to exceed the capacity of the MCW treatment plants for which they were initially designed,” explains Nicolás.
The proposed model and methodology are a tool for proactive and efficient management of MCWs, capable of integrating climate variability, hydrological dynamics, and chemical characterization, considering environmental protection, community safety, and the sustainability of mining operations.
Jacques Wiertz, leader of Environmental Rehabilitation and Ecosystem Dynamics at SMI-ICE-Chile, and David Rubinos, scientific leader, participated as speakers at the opening ceremony of Water Congress 2025.
Dr. David Rubinos emphasized that society and industry face significant challenges in the context of growing water scarcity and demand: «If not addressed, they compromise development and put human health at risk (…) for example, the degradation of water quality for human, agricultural, and industrial uses, including mining.»
“For this reason, it is so critical to guarantee water supply and proper management,” he emphasized. “Doing so requires innovative solutions that adopt an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach among different actors and sectors. This congress is an ideal framework for interaction and collaboration between the public sector, industry, and academia.”
Dr. Jacques Wiertz, for his part, began by quoting Mario Benedetti’s poem “Happy Water Day” to underscore the richness and versatility of this vital element. “Water purifies; water brings us together… We all have this image of the pool of water around which animals gather, in a moment of respite, to drink.”
In his address, he called for this meeting to serve as a place to “listen, converse, share, and contribute to better management of water, so mysterious, magical, and also so fragile, and which, ultimately, is the very source of life.”
