Water rights
Water rights in Chile
The water-use rights register of the Dirección General de Aguas (DGA), counted by region, type and use, with the companies that hold the most rights. Every figure opens the DGA file it comes from.
Register read on Oct 21, 2026.
Water rights
The Dirección General de Aguas…'s register of water use rights: 159,960 rights, 36,455 of them held by legal persons; the 123,505 held by natural persons or other holders are only counted, never named.
677 rights state a mining use.
| Region | Rights | Consumptive | Non-consumptive | Held by legal persons | Dirección General de Aguas… |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tarapacá | 1,944 | 1,928 | 12 | 285 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Antofagasta | 1,168 | 1,129 | 39 | 523 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Atacama | 2,364 | 2,313 | 51 | 853 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Coquimbo | 13,986 | 13,873 | 110 | 3,338 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Valparaíso | 17,113 | 17,001 | 107 | 4,932 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins | 10,753 | 10,422 | 325 | 3,055 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Maule | 13,258 | 12,319 | 935 | 3,262 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Biobío | 11,306 | 9,752 | 1,549 | 2,141 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| La Araucanía | 22,129 | 18,286 | 3,835 | 2,929 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Los Lagos | 18,931 | 15,896 | 3,035 | 4,483 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo | 7,372 | 6,340 | 1,032 | 1,081 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena | 2,040 | 1,774 | 266 | 589 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Metropolitana de Santiago | 11,769 | 11,461 | 305 | 4,438 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Los Ríos | 13,335 | 11,100 | 2,235 | 2,991 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Arica y Parinacota | 2,888 | 2,875 | 11 | 251 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
| Ñuble | 9,604 | 9,122 | 475 | 1,304 | Dirección General de Aguas… |
Counts by region of the DGA register, each region cited to its file. A registered right does not prove current ownership.See the rights on the map (with an account)
By use
Recorded rights by the use declared to the DGA.
- Use not stated68,036
- Irrigation53,533
- Drinking and domestic22,623
- Other uses5,930
- Hydropower5,480
- Fish farming2,090
- Industrial1,300
- Mining677
- Forestry and farming265
- Monitoring16
- Medicinal10
The companies with the most water rights
The 20 legal persons with the most current rights in the register, out of 8,605 holders that are companies.
Each row cites the holder's largest right. The flow adds up the consumptive rights expressed in l/s.
The DGA warns that its register changes constantly and does not prove current ownership of a right. The point is referential.