"A city can't live without water," announced Claudio Orrego, the governor of the Santiago metropolitan region (RELATED: Utah's Great Salt Lake region is also drying up due to drought).
"And we're in an unprecedented situation in Santiago's 491-year history where we have to prepare for there to not be enough water for everyone who lives here."
The new plan involves a four-tier alert system that slides from green to red, beginning with public service announcements and expanding mandatory water restrictions.
When conditions are most extreme, Santiago will ration water on a rotating schedule with about 1.7 million customers losing access for up to 24 hours.
"The alert system is based on the capacity of the Maipo and Mapocho rivers, which supply the capital with most of its water and have seen dwindling water levels as the drought drags on," reported The Guardian (U.K.).
"The government estimates that the country's water availability has dropped 10 percent to 37 percent over the last 30 years and could drop another 50 percent in northern and central Chile by 2060."
Chile suggests that water rationing will be permanent because "climate change is here to stay"
How the government of Chile will determine when to start rationing water will depend upon water deficit measurements in area rivers. If measured liters per second drop too low, water rationing will take place every four, six, or 12 days, depending.
"This is the first time in history that Santiago has a water rationing plan due to the severity of climate change," Orrego said.
"It's important for citizens to understand that climate change is here to stay. It's not just global, it's local."
The only exemptions to Chile's water rationing plan are for areas fed by well water or sources other than the two main rivers that currently feed the city.
California faces similar problems as on-and-off drought conditions have left much of the state without steady reserves.
The Golden State has seen its own water rationing schemes over the years, including restrictions on which days residents can water their lawns, for instance.
Perhaps the worst-hit sector there is agriculture, which faces constant challenges in getting what it needs. Many farmers throughout California have been cut off completely, even as state officials intentionally drain reservoirs into the ocean.
There is always some excuse as to why California wastes so much fresh water, one of the most ludicrous being that it is necessary in order to prevent certain endangered species such as the delta smelt from going extinct.
This is mostly nonsense, of course, and is merely a cover story for the engineered collapse of the water supply, which is to be blamed on "climate change."
Chile and California appear to be leading the way in pushing this climate change narrative, which seeks to normalize water and other shortages as a natural consequence of a warming globe.
"They have been doing the same thing here in Arizona," noted one reader at Natural News. "California has around 6 million acre-feet stored in our reservoirs and underground aquifers and they are trying to withdraw it all right now. That would mean that Arizona's allocation of water would be temporarily reduced while California sucks more from the Colorado River."
"The International Boundary and Water Commission is sending emergency water to Tijuana because of a pipeline and canal that was destroyed by a 2010 earthquake. The funny part is, they immediately fixed the damage and water is STILL being sent to the Colorado Delta UNESCO Biosphere Reserve."
More related news coverage can be found at Drought.news.
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