How long with this rain last me? I fear being left with some dry places.
(César Vallejo, 1993. Trilce. Poema LXXVII)
Research from IANIGLA (https://ianigla.conicet.gov.ar/) shows that since 2010 Cuyo has been undergoing a period of drought without precedent in the last 1000 years. This means that except for the summers of 2015-16, 2023-24 and 2024-25 which were affected by El Niño, the impact of drought due to climate change is proven and will continue. What can the social sciences say about these droughts and their effects? What have been the social responses, now and in the past, to these processes?
Water shortages are closely associated with droughts, although not exactly the same. For taht reason it is important to study both in relationship, tying them into broader problems related to access to water. This requires linking our analysis to systems of governing water, which determine actions before and beyond the drought, and shape who has access and to what extent to hydraulic resources. For example, the administration of potable water supplied for popular consumption in urban areas should not be studied in isolation from the supply to rural arras.
In our research (https://aguascuyanas.org/en/publications) at the Cuyo Waters Lab, we address droughts (hydrometereological and agricultural) in relation to processes which define water shortages as a social phenomenon, and not merely a natural one. Therefore we put our focus on the disparities in access to water between different social actors and territories who suffer differential variations in access to water – sometimes systematically so – or may even have to survive and develop life strategies in the context of chronic droughts.
Although the World Health Organization establishes that individuals need between 50 and 100 liters per person per day to live a healthy life, every inhabitant of Mendoza consumes on average nearly 500 daily liters. Meanwhile, other communities in the province do not even reach the minimum recommended by the WHO. The widespread idea that we “live in a desert” should be rethought in light of those numbers.
Logically we can say that water shortages are in part subjective, and a function of a set of expectations and specific cultural patterns. This implies the need to turn to the tools and lines of analysis of the social sciences to understand the social dimensions of drought and water shortages.
In a recent article published in the Spanish journal Agua y Territorio, we analyze the processes of water shortage that impacted the province from the second half of the 19th century through the end of the 20th. From a historical-environmental perspective, we analyze certain hydroclimactic moments considering the views of different social actors in the provincial territory, based on information obtained from documentary sources in the Archivo Histórico del Agua and other archives. This, comparing the beginning of the century with recent years reveals an imbalance between the progressive –and pronounced – demographic increase and the much lower expansion of productive agricultural lands, which polarized even more the duality between the use of water for agricultural production and its use for domestic consumption, especially in cities. In addition, we trace how over time other uses emerged, like the generation of energy, connected with hydroelectric dams, along with the demands of a growing urban commercial and services sector which made its demands loudly known in local media.
Those who are interested may consult the complementary works we have carried out about these theme specifically in the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan. The study of these processes is necessary to make better decisions in the present.
Rojas, Facundo (2021) Dimensiones sociales y territoriales de las sequías en San Juan (siglos XVIII-XXI): una propuesta de periodización. Punto Sur, 5, 64-90. http://revistascientificas.filo.uba.ar/index.php/RPS/article/view/11000
Rojas, Facundo, Osvaldo Sironi y Facundo Martín (2023) Sequías en Mendoza (Argentina): una mirada socio-histórica desde la segunda mitad del siglo XIX. Revista Agua y Territorio, 22 147-166. https://revistaselectronicas.ujaen.es/index.php/atma/article/view/7134
Rojas, Facundo; Facundo Martín; Osvaldo Sironi y Nicolás Parise (2023) Apuntes históricos sobre la administración de la carencia frente a las sequías de Mendoza y San Juan. Dossier: Sequías en Argentina. Revista Ojo de Condor, Instituto Geográfico Nacional. https://www.ign.gob.ar/AreaServicios/Publicaciones/RevistaOjoCondor https://drive.google.com/file/d/10cOHZ4ciB_qdhoFmA3xOfJwZ7-3s1dM_/view
Fragkou, Maria C., Natalia Dias, Vanessa Empinotti, Rodrigo Fuster, Maria Teresa Oré, Facundo Rojas, Anahí Urquiza, Lucrecia Wagner (2021) Water scarcity in Latin America. In: Beatriz Bustos-Gallardo, Salvatore Engel-di Mauro, Gustavo García-López, Felipe Milanez, Diana Ojeda (Ed.). Handbook of Latin America and the Environment, Routledge, pp. 87-98. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429344428-10/water-scarcity-latin-america-maria-fragkou-natalia-dias-tadeu-vanessa-empinotti-rodrigo-fuster-maria-teresa-or%C3%A9-facundo-rojas-anah%C3%AD-urquiza-lucrecia-wagner
Prieto, María del Rosario, Facundo Rojas, Facundo Martín, Diego Araneo, Ricardo Villalba, Juan Antonio Rivera y Salvador Gil Guirado (2024) Sequías extremas en Mendoza durante el siglo XX y principios del XXI. Administración de la carencia y conflictos socio-políticos. En: Medio Ambiente y transformación rural en la Argentina contemporánea. Gustavo Zarrilli (compilador), Universidad Nacional de Quilmes-Teseo Press, CABA. pp 195-250. https://www.teseopress.com/medioambienteytransformacionruralenlaargentinacontemporanea