Water vulnerabilities mapping: a multi-criteria and multi-scale assessment in central Chile

Abstract

One of the major challenges that populations have to face is vulnerability to water: lack of water, flooding, pollution, hazard sensitivity and coping capacity. For the reason of economic, social and environmental inequalities, this paper focuses on water-related vulnerabilities in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago (RMS) in Chile. Our main objective is to understand, through mapping, the multiscalar logics of water vulnerability. This study is carried out at two scales: at the regional level (RMS), we proceed with open access municipal statistical data and maps, while at the local level, a more detailed analysis focussing on the Chacabuco Province is based on the same type of data but with either a higher spatial resolution (Census districts) or a spatially more intensive data processing in order to take into account intra-municipal differences. In this way, we put into perspective the discourse developed in the Chilean media and by the inhabitants of Chacabuco Province regarding the province as an environmental ‘sacrifice zone’ for the RMS. The vulnerability maps are carried out at different scales in a simple and reproducible way by multi-criteria evaluation (MCE). The results confirm the hypothesis of a sacrifice zone and show that high-resolution data and adequate data processing give, on average, lower vulnerability scores than using only statistical data on the municipal level. The results provide a cartographic decision support for stakeholders. Limitations of the study are discussed and required further research pointed out.

Prisoners of Scale: Downscaling Community Resilience Measurements for Enhanced Use

“…The downscaled SoVI (union to mouza level) had a weak correlation with the mouza level SoVI (Spearman's rho = 0.348, p < 0.01) and failed to categorize more than 9% of the highly vulnerable areas. In addition, Paegelow et al [39] measured the vulnerability to water-related risks (i.e., flooding, and water quality and scarcity issues) in two different scales (regional/smaller and provincial/larger) in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile, and found a significant difference among a quarter of the vulnerability scores, with the higher values in the provincial scale. There have been no tests of the scaling effects of BRIC to date.…”

Methodological Guide to Forensic Hydrology

“…All these impacts have a significant effect on the increased frequency of urban flooding [8,9]. It is enough evidence to see what happened in the main cities in the LAC region [10][11][12][13][14]. All this urban development and the increase in impervious areas remain the critical problems for storm water management in urban areas [15][16][17].…”