Visit to FIAUdeC by Dr. Sergio Martos-Rosillo, from the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain,
It is part of the work of the Ibero-American research network in which he participates together with Dr. José
Luis Arumí, with whom he plans to strengthen academic cooperation.
A visit to the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering of the University of Concepción (FIAUdeC) was made by
Hydrogeologist, Dr. Sergio Martos-Rosillo, researcher at the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain, at the invitation of the Director of the Department of Water Resources of FIAUdeC, Dr. José Luis Arumí; this meeting took place as a result of the work that both of them develop within the framework of the Research Network on Sowing and Harvesting Water in Protected Natural Areas, of the Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for Development (Cyted).
This collaboration is supported by the Fondap Crhiam Center of the UdeC, which has funded several academic exchange activities within the framework of the Cyted Network.
In this context, the Spanish researcher met with students from the PhD programs in Water Resources and Energy for Agriculture and Environmental Sciences - taught by the University of Concepción - and learned about the experience of the irrigators of the Diguillín River, in the Ñuble region; in this place, they have been betting for a decade on the artificial recharge of underground aquifers, through the filling of canals in winter, which allows water to be stored for later extraction and use during the irrigation season.
Dr. Martos-Rosillo is the coordinator of the network that brings together nearly 90 researchers from Latin America, “We are working on systems that use nature-based solutions for water management.” He explained that “we are working with water management systems in high mountain basins, very similar to those in the Nevado de Chillán; and also on aquifer recharge systems using agriculture, water infiltration in irrigation canals and also irrigation returns in agricultural areas; and we were looking at the agricultural area that is associated with the Diguillín River and the Chillán River.”
Professor Arumí explained that, “Sowing and harvesting water techniques are, at their core, ancestral techniques of artificially recharging groundwater that were used in Andean villages, in Muslim Spain and in other arid areas, where through observation of nature, places were found where water could be diverted from rivers in the mountains, infiltrated and then fed small agricultural production in the highlands or in mountain areas.”
The FIAUdeC hydrologist added that, “We have been working with Professor Martos, because he is very interested in the experience being carried out on the Diguillín River, with artificial water recharge using the network of canals.”
PhD in Water Resources and Energy for Agriculture and Environmental Sciences.
Dr. Arumí emphasized the role of irrigation canals in infiltration and recalled that the Diguillín River Surveillance Board began using this technique on an experimental basis ten years ago. “We studied how hydrology worked in a valley subjected to intensive irrigated agriculture, and we saw that irrigation produced 75% of groundwater recharge, and the main reason was infiltration through canals. So, if I can manage the canal network, I can control the recharge, and that is interesting because in Chile we have 38,500 kilometers of canals, and most of them are not lined.”
Academic Cooperation
Specifically, the Spanish researcher visited the irrigated area of the Laja-Diguillín canal, “because there they have a water infiltration system using the hydraulic irrigation infrastructure (…) We went to see if we could do a joint job, between the research team led by Professor Arumí and the one we lead at the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain,” said Dr. Martos Rosillo.
Along these lines, the hydrogeologist stated that, “There are very good possibilities for collaboration on these common issues. First, because we are also working on how climate change affects high mountain basins and we were there in the basins near the Nevado de Chillán ski resort and we are applying similar methodologies. Then there is the line of collaboration on the issue of aquifer recharge, doing what is called winter irrigation, to be able to recharge the aquifer and take advantage of the hydraulic infrastructure; there are quite a few lines of common work in which we can cooperate.”
Dr. Arumí added that, in addition to the joint work within this network, which has resulted, for example, in the publication of the book “Sowing and harvesting water in Ibero-America”, Dr. Martos-Rosillo will collaborate in doctoral programs with some thesis students from the Faculties of Agricultural Engineering and Environmental Sciences at UdeC.
“The idea is to establish ties of cooperation with the members of the network; this is the second professional visit, because last year Jorge Jódar -also from the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain- came, and now Sergio Martos came,” the FIAUdeC academic and Crhiam researcher concluded.
