{"id":545,"date":"2025-07-22T19:51:41","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T19:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/?p=545"},"modified":"2025-07-22T19:51:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T19:51:43","slug":"droughts-in-sociohistorical-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/en\/droughts-in-sociohistorical-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Droughts in Sociohistorical Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How long with this rain last me? I fear being left with some dry places.<\/em>
(C\u00e9sar Vallejo, 1993. Trilce. Poema LXXVII)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research from IANIGLA (https:\/\/ianigla.conicet.gov.ar\/<\/a>) 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 Ni\u00f1o, 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water shortages are closely associated with droughts, although not exactly the same.\u00a0 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our research (https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/en\/publications<\/a>) 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.\u00a0 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 \u2013 sometimes systematically so \u2013 or may even have to survive and develop life strategies in the context of chronic droughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: https:\/\/www.diariouno.com.ar\/sequia-historica-mendoza-cuales-podrian-ser-las-drasticas-consecuencias-n854051<\/figcaption><\/div><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201d should be rethought in light of those numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent article published in the Spanish journal Agua y Territorio<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> 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 Hist\u00f3rico del Agua and other archives. This, comparing the beginning of the century with recent years reveals an imbalance between the progressive \u2013and pronounced \u2013 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maps of the Ci\u00e9naga del Bermejo (Mendoza, Argentina) in different years, between 1794 and 1861, showing the variation in its volume according to the fluctuations of the Mendoza River.(Prieto u0026 Rojas, 2012: 957, fig. 5).<\/figcaption><\/div><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Irrigation works in the Lower Tunuy\u00e1n. General planimetry of the benefited area. Taken from Wauters (1910). Source: Library of the General Department of Irrigation, (Mendoza, Argentina). Digitized courtesy of Sergio Terrera.<\/figcaption><\/div><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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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.\u00a0 The study of these processes is necessary to make better decisions in the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rojas, Facundo (2021) Dimensiones sociales y territoriales de las sequ\u00edas en San Juan (siglos XVIII-XXI): una propuesta de periodizaci\u00f3n.<\/strong> Punto Sur, 5, 64-90. http:\/\/revistascientificas.filo.uba.ar\/index.php\/RPS\/article\/view\/11000<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rojas, Facundo, Osvaldo Sironi y Facundo Mart\u00edn (2023) Sequ\u00edas en Mendoza (Argentina): una mirada socio-hist\u00f3rica desde la segunda mitad del siglo XIX.<\/strong> Revista Agua y Territorio, 22 147-166.  https:\/\/revistaselectronicas.ujaen.es\/index.php\/atma\/article\/view\/7134<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rojas, Facundo; Facundo Mart\u00edn; Osvaldo Sironi y Nicol\u00e1s Parise (2023) Apuntes hist\u00f3ricos sobre la administraci\u00f3n de la carencia frente a las sequ\u00edas de Mendoza y San Juan.<\/strong> Dossier: Sequ\u00edas en Argentina. Revista Ojo de Condor, Instituto Geogr\u00e1fico Nacional. https:\/\/www.ign.gob.ar\/AreaServicios\/Publicaciones\/RevistaOjoCondor<\/a> https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/10cOHZ4ciB_qdhoFmA3xOfJwZ7-3s1dM_\/view<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fragkou, Maria C., Natalia Dias, Vanessa Empinotti, Rodrigo Fuster, Maria Teresa Or\u00e9, Facundo Rojas, Anah\u00ed Urquiza, Lucrecia Wagner (2021) Water scarcity in Latin America<\/strong>. In: Beatriz Bustos-Gallardo, Salvatore Engel-di Mauro, Gustavo Garc\u00eda-L\u00f3pez, 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<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prieto, Mar\u00eda del Rosario, Facundo Rojas, Facundo Mart\u00edn, Diego Araneo, Ricardo Villalba, Juan Antonio Rivera y Salvador Gil Guirado (2024) Sequ\u00edas extremas en Mendoza durante el siglo XX y principios del XXI. Administraci\u00f3n de la carencia y conflictos socio-pol\u00edticos<\/strong>. En: Medio Ambiente y transformaci\u00f3n rural en la Argentina contempor\u00e1nea. Gustavo Zarrilli (compilador), Universidad Nacional de Quilmes-Teseo Press, CABA. pp 195-250. https:\/\/www.teseopress.com\/medioambienteytransformacionruralenlaargentinacontemporanea<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How long with this rain last me? I fear being left with some dry places.(C\u00e9sar 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… Continue reading Droughts in Sociohistorical Perspective<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":463,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_eb_attr":"","_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/?p=462","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novedades","en-US","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":546,"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions\/546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguascuyanas.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}