Modatima, the “Movement for the Defense of Access to Water, Land and Environmental Protection”, is an organization formed in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

out of the Province of

Petorca Petorca is a Chilean town and commune located in the Petorca Province, Valparaíso Region. The commune spans an area of . Since 2010 Petorca has been affected by a long-term drought aggravated by poor water administration that have allowed limi ...

. The organization was created in 2010 as a response to increased

water scarcity Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is whe ...

in the region caused by an ongoing

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

and alleged water theft by local agribusiness, specifically large-scale avocado farmers. Motadima activists state that their mission is to make visible the conflicts over water in the region at a national scale and bring to light the commodification of water driven by the 1981 Water Code. Motadima has spoken at universities and held demonstrations across the country for their cause. The organization has expanded their presence to the regions of O’Higgins, Los Lagos, Arica & Parinacota and Metropolitana. Modatima has also joined La Red Vida, a transnational organization representing water and land rights across the Americas. People in the region of Petorca get their water delivered by truck with each person receiving 50 liters a day, lower than the national average use of 196 liter per day, per capita. Water is delivered by unmarked trucks, and resident have noted that water received is often discoloured and not clean. Studies have found that the water given to the community contains high levels of

coliform Coliform bacteria are defined as either motile or non-motile Gram-negative non- spore forming Bacilli that possess β-galactosidase to produce acids and gases under their optimal growth temperature of 35-37°C. They can be aerobes or facultativ ...

Threats

Rodrigo Mundaca, the organizations director and spokesperson, along with other local water activists such as Veronica Vilches have received numerous death threats in relation to their activism. Mundaca faced charges and possible jail time in 2012 when he released names of businesses who had built illegal underground channels diverting water from the River Petorca to their farms.

References

{{reflist Environmental organisations based in Chile Water supply and sanitation in Chile

Threats

See also

References