In the heart of Chile, the Maipo River Basin stands at a critical crossroads: sustaining the growth of a metropolis of over 8 million people amid escalating water scarcity, degradation of natural sources, and intensifying climate pressure. As one of the 100 most stressed basins in the world according to the CEO Water Mandate, its water crisis is not abstract—it is palpable. Over 76% of the region’s population lives under high water vulnerability, and more than 90% of river ecosystems show signs of severe alteration. The Maipo River—lifeline of urban, agricultural, and industrial supply in the Metropolitan Region—has lost ecological connectivity, environmental flow, and water quality, deepening a crisis that cannot be solved with incremental fixes.
This project seeks to reverse that trajectory by applying a Water Positive approach that integrates efficiency, regeneration, and active restoration. It is not just about fixing leaks or treating wastewater—it is about reimagining how Santiago produces, uses, and relates to water. By implementing solutions such as water reuse, stormwater infiltration, leak detection in critical networks, and upgrades in wastewater treatment systems, the project aims to generate measurable and verifiable Volumetric Water Benefits (VWBs) under the VWBA 2.0 methodology, with full traceability. Each cubic meter recovered or avoided in this basin is an act of urban resilience. Each restored hectare is an investment in public health and climate security.
This initiative brings together public and private actors: municipalities, water utilities, green infrastructure developers, technology providers, academic institutions, and multilateral organizations. Its raison d’être is not only technical but deeply strategic. In a region where demographic growth and climate change converge over an already overstretched water system, transformative actions must be purpose-driven, durable, and impactful. This project not only complies with the principles of additionality, traceability, and intentionality that underpin the Water Positive strategy—it elevates them as the foundation for a new urban water paradigm.
The Santiago Metropolitan Region faces a triple challenge: rapid depletion of available water sources, declining water quality, and outdated infrastructure designed for a different century. Add to this a growing industrial and residential demand, a 30% drop in precipitation over recent decades, and the alarming retreat of Andean glaciers—seasonal buffers critical to hydrological resilience. The result has been planned water shutoffs, user conflicts, and high levels of non-revenue water (NRW) in peri-urban areas.
The opportunity is as urgent as it is strategic. This project proposes an integrated urban intervention model based on adaptive, distributed, and regenerative solutions. Prioritized actions include: reuse of treated greywater for urban and industrial irrigation; permeable pavements and sustainable drainage systems in flood-prone districts; controlled aquifer recharge using infiltration trenches in metropolitan parks; and leak reduction in primary networks through smart sensor systems. Public health and community wellbeing indicators are incorporated via the WASH Benefits Accounting framework, ensuring impacts that go beyond hydrology.
In the short term, the project aims to recover over 5 million m³ of usable water per year, reduce losses in pilot zones by at least 20%, and restore ecological connectivity in key stretches of the Zanjón de la Aguada and San Carlos Canal. In the medium term, the model will be scaled to other municipalities within Greater Santiago under severe water stress and replicated in other urban basins across Chile. In the long term, the goal is to position Santiago as a pilot Water Positive city in Latin America—integrating water, climate, and territorial planning.
The project is led by a multi-actor consortium composed of utilities (such as Aguas Andinas), key municipalities (such as Peñalolén, Maipú, and La Pintana), specialized tech companies, local universities, and global sustainability partners. Physical and digital traceability is ensured through sensors, real-time monitoring platforms, and third-party validation aligned with VWBA 2.0.
Companies with ambitious ESG targets, Net Positive goals, or urban resilience strategies will find in this project a tangible opportunity to be part of the solution—not just as financiers or reputational allies, but as protagonists in a necessary transition toward a city that replenishes more water than it consumes. The time to act is now: each year lost increases costs, limits opportunities, and deepens inequality.
To comprehensively address the issue of Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in Buin, a mitigation strategy composed of multiple complementary and coordinated solutions is proposed. This strategy focuses on digitalization, early detection, and modernization of the water distribution system. The key actions include:
Installation of smart sensors: Acoustic, differential pressure, and flow sensors will be installed in the most vulnerable and strategic sections of the network. These sensors detect hydraulic anomalies such as pressure drops, abrupt changes in consumption, or vibration patterns indicating leaks.
Hydraulic segmentation of the network: The system will be divided into District Metered Areas (DMAs), allowing comparison between water volume entering and consumed in each sector. This enables rapid detection of losses and hidden leaks.
Real-time monitoring platform: All data collected by the sensors will be integrated into a digital platform that enables real-time visualization, modeling, alerts, and prioritization of sectors with losses.
Data-driven predictive maintenance: Instead of responding after an incident occurs, a predictive maintenance model will be established, with operational teams acting based on alerts generated by sensors and analytics, reducing response time and operational costs.
Training of technical and operational staff: Targeted training will be provided for municipal and utility personnel in data interpretation, sensor management, and modern methodologies for maintenance and repair.
Renewal of critical sections: As a complement to digitalization, the physical renewal of pipeline segments with recurring failures and structural obsolescence will be carried out, prioritizing areas with the highest accumulated flow loss.
External auditing and results traceability: A traceability system will be implemented to record every event detected, validated, and corrected. This will allow for third-party auditing and generation of metrics compatible with international methodologies such as VWBA, CDP Water, and SBTs.
SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation: Improves water use efficiency and service sustainability by significantly reducing water lost before reaching the end user.
SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure: Implements resilient, modern technological infrastructure through smart sensor installation, network segmentation, and an advanced digital platform.
SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities: Promotes a more resilient and equitable urban environment by ensuring a more efficient, stable, and reliable water service for the community.
SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production: Promotes more efficient use of natural resources by reducing water losses in the distribution system, decreasing unnecessary consumption, and preventing the waste of a critical resource.
SDG 13 – Climate Action: Reduces emissions associated with pumping, capturing, and treating previously wasted water, lowering the carbon footprint of the urban water system.
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals: Builds on a collective action strategy involving the municipality, the utility company, technology providers, and potential external financiers, promoting a collaborative water governance model supported by verifiable data and shared objectives.
The project’s execution is structured into three phases: technical diagnosis and hydraulic sectorization; technological implementation and digitalization; and consolidation through predictive maintenance and VWBA reporting. These phases are coordinated with the utility company, the municipality, and a specialized provider of intelligent water solutions. The investment is expected to be shared among the public sector, private entities, and potential sources of climate finance.
Institutional coordination will be key to the project’s long-term sustainability. To ensure this, a local technical roundtable will be established with representation from all relevant stakeholders. This body will not only monitor the progress of activities but also align expectations, facilitate operational adoption, and promote community ownership of the benefits achieved. The project also aims to involve grassroots organizations and environmental NGOs active in the Maipo basin to ensure territorial coherence and synergies with other ongoing water restoration or efficiency projects.
In the city of Buin—located within one of Chile’s most water-demanded and vulnerable basins—invisible water losses due to leaks represented a chronic obstacle to sustainability. The urban infrastructure, aged and reactive, was unable to meet the efficiency demands required in a context of increasing water stress. Within this scenario, an innovative hydraulic digitalization strategy was implemented, incorporating smart sensors and a real-time data analytics platform.
The information collected enabled the detection of previously invisible leaks, reduced repair times, optimized resource allocation, and generated robust traceability for external reporting and validation. Each intervention was recorded, audited, and aligned with Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA) methodologies, which not only improved technical-operational performance but also made the project eligible for results-based financing and collaborative partnerships.
Thanks to this intervention, the city began recovering water flows that were previously lost, reduced pressure on the Maipo aquifer, improved the resilience of the urban potable water service, and made a direct contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. The project became a replicable model for other municipalities in Chile and Latin America, showcasing how data, technology, and collaborative governance can transform urban water management in highly vulnerable environments.
