Traditional leadership on the commons: main challenges for leaders of community organizations to govern rural water in Ránquil, Chile

Abstract

Water community organizations are essential for water management in rural areas in the majority of Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Chile. However, Chile is the only country in this region where water is traded as an asset and is subjected to property rights. Despite this legal context, the behavior of local leaders and the Water Committees management system consider water as a commons. Consequently, these committees face constant obstacles caused by the duality of water management systems present in the country. For these reasons, this chapter aims to visualize the challenges faced by these committees in the context of increasing water scarcity to guarantee the local communities’ and users’ access to water. The study addresses the perspectives of leaders and members of Water Committees of the district of Ranquil, a highly vulnerable territory located in South-Central Chile. Some of the main challenges identified deal with issues such as water outages, poor water quality, and the presence of forest plantations. Equally important are some obstacles related to interaction with other stakeholders of the territory, the lack of support from the state, and issues within the committees’ organization and members.