Water Quality Management in Chile

What is it about?

This chapter presents a policy proposal for controlling water pollution in Chile, based on the decision of the country to shift the regulatory focus from commandand-control instruments to the use of economic instruments. The focus of the proposal is to meet water quality standards (within the policy) in the most efficient way. For this purpose, the policy, including the selection of instruments, has been designed after taking the institutional set-up of the country into consideration. This requires adapting regulatory policies used in developed countries to the framework of a developing country.

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Why is it important?

Economic development has brought important improvements to the quality of life of the people in Chile. An important component of this development has been the economic activities that use water bodies as a destination for discharges. Conflicts over the use of water are becoming increasingly common. Even though the operation of markets to allocate water has been relatively successful, disputes over water quality are on the increase. This is why a national policy to manage water quality is urgently needed to avoid the social cost of inadequate quality. To put this proposal into proper context, it is necessary to explain a little more about Chile and its water management policies.

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