Enteric diseases, chemical exposure, and emerging threats underscore the close relationship among water, ecosystems, and people’s well-being.
By: María Belén Bascur Ruiz, Head of Communications, Center for Water Resources for Agriculture and Mining (CRHIAM) – mariabbascur@udec.cl
Images: Pixabay
In Chile, talking about water is talking about health. That is the focus of the book “Water, Ecosystems and Public Health”, prepared by the Center for Water Resources for Agriculture and Mining (CRHIAM), in which, from different disciplines, an analysis is made of how access, quality, and resource management directly influence the well-being of the population. The work points out that water, far from being just a productive input, constitutes one of the main environmental determinants of human health.
The first chapter outlines that limiting access to an adequate volume of physically, chemically, and microbiologically safe water can encourage the appearance of diseases, especially gastrointestinal ones. The evidence collected shows that improvements in drinking water and wastewater treatment have been key to the country’s historical reduction in enteric pathologies, including hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and acute diarrhea. But it is also stressed that new risks are emerging linked to climate change, ecosystem degradation, and the increasing presence of pollutants.
In this scenario, the director of CRHIAM, Dr. Gladys Vidal, the book’s editor and co-author of the chapter on the reuse of treated wastewater, argues that climatic transformations have altered the resource’s availability across the country. “Chile has experienced a rainfall deficit of close to 30% since 2010, a situation that has continuously affected ecosystems and all activities that depend on water,” she says, highlighting that the prolonged drought forces us to rethink water management from a health perspective.
The book examines the need to ensure safe and sustainable supply systems, especially in rural areas, where Rural Sanitary Services pose challenges for surveillance, infrastructure, and quality control. Vulnerability increases when communities depend on sources exposed to pollution or when they face supply interruptions amid water scarcity.
Another relevant line is the presence of chemicals of sanitary interest in drinking water, such as fluoride, nitrates, perchlorates, and trihalomethanes. Their potential effects include thyroid disorders, liver damage, gestational problems, and increased risk of certain types of cancer. Chronic exposure to low doses, the evidence suggests, requires strengthening environmental surveillance systems and updating regulations to protect the population better.
To this, the growing concern about emerging pollutants, endocrine disruptors, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria is added, phenomena detected in both wastewater and aquatic ecosystems. One of the clearest health risks is the transfer of resistance genes, which can undermine the effectiveness of medical treatments and exacerbate infectious diseases. On this, Dr. Vidal emphasizes that “conventional systems predominate in Chile that were not designed to remove these types of compounds completely,” she says, indicating that the country should move towards technological solutions and regulatory frameworks that adequately address these new health risks.
The book also reviews the historical impact of arsenic in northern Chile, where prolonged exposure left a mark on population health, with increases in lung cancer, respiratory disorders, and effects in early stages of life. This case, which has been extensively studied, demonstrates the relevance of robust chemical and epidemiological surveillance.
Finally, the work proposes that the sanitary challenges posed by water in Chile are no longer limited to ensuring water purification; they also include understanding new environmental pressures, anticipating risks, and balancing human development with the protection of ecosystems. In this way, it proposes moving towards an integrated vision where water is treated as an essential good whose management should protect both community health and lives.
The book “Water, Ecosystems and Public Health” by CRHIAM is available for free download on their website.
Last modified: 20 de mayo de 2026
