Specialists from the Research, Development and Innovation Center for Integrated Water Management in the Arid Zone warned about the depletion of groundwater in San Juan. The report indicates that the province is experiencing a structural water crisis.
This scenario demands immediate measures to avoid a system collapse. According to the fifth technical report of the year, this phenomenon is not a temporary drought. Scientists describe a new long-term climate context. The lack of adaptation exacerbates the impacts on production and supply.
The entity brings together scientific and technical organizations at the provincial and national levels. Their diagnosis points to management problems rather than exclusively natural causes. Inefficient water use appears as the central axis of the conflict.
Agriculture under pressure and obsolete irrigation systems
The middle basins of the San Juan and Jáchal rivers concentrate the greatest impacts. There, the cultivated area has been reduced, and agricultural and livestock productivity has fallen. Water stress directly affects regional economies.
Most of the available water is allocated to agricultural irrigation. However, the efficiency of the canal system does not exceed 20%. This implies enormous losses before the resource reaches the crops.
Water is distributed with fixed coefficients without considering real needs. It is not adjusted to the cultivated area or the requirements of each production. This scheme drives waste and overexploitation of aquifers.
The legal framework as an obstacle to modern management
The report warns that the rigidity of the Water Code limits any improvement. The regulations prevent the application of differential coefficients and flexible schemes. This blocks management adapted to the productive reality.
As a consequence, producers resort to underground pumping. Excessive extraction depletes a strategic reserve for the province. It also jeopardizes the supply of drinking water.
Furthermore, the intensive use of wells raises production costs. This reduces the competitiveness of the San Juan agricultural sector. The lack of governance ends up transferring the problem underground.
The contrast with Mendoza and operational decentralization
The document compares the San Juan model with that of Mendoza. The neighboring province applies a decentralized water management. Users have greater participation and decision-making power.
In Mendoza, watercourse inspections are autonomous entities. They have financial autonomy and executive capacity. This allows adjusting the distribution to real demand.
In San Juan, control remains highly centralized. User organizations play a consultative role. The comparison highlights structural limits of the current system.
Technology without governance and false structural solutions
Experts warn that large works are not a solution on their own. Neither is the individual technification of irrigation without institutional changes. Technology without governance does not solve scarcity.
Management based on a fixed supply empties reservoirs and aquifers. The system does not respond to climatic or productive variability. This accelerates the deterioration of the water resource.
Without legal reforms, private investment in wells deepens the crisis. Each new well adds pressure on the aquifer. The result is an increasingly fragile system.
The importance of proper water management and the risks of doing it wrong
Efficient water management ensures long-term water security. It allows sustaining production, human consumption, and ecosystems. It also reduces social and economic conflicts.
When management is deficient, the consequences multiply. Groundwater reserves are depleted, and soils degrade. Access to drinking water becomes more uncertain.
Poor management also increases production costs. It weakens regional economies and deepens inequalities. Correcting the course is key to building a resilient system in the face of climate change.
