By Aislinn Laing and Fabian Cambero
Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera on Thursday announced the creation of a working group of government agencies, academics and industry players to tackle the worst drought in 60 years which has spiked this year amid record lows of rainfall.
The government has declared water shortages in more than 50 communities across three regions of its normally lush central belt so far this year, and an associated agricultural emergency across more than 100.
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“The water shortages and drought... has become more extensive and more intense, and that is reflected in many ways: a decrease in precipitation and rainfall in virtually all of Chile’s regions, a decline in river flows, less water in our reservoirs and less snow on our mountain ranges,” Pinera told reporters at the presidential palace in Santiago.
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Chile’s meteorological office said this month that the capital Santiago has received just a quarter of the average rainfall levels of the past 30 years.
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