The government estimates that the country's water availability has dropped 10 percent to 37 percent over the last 30 years and could drop another 50 percent in northern and central Chile by 2060.
Chilean authorities have announced possible plans to ration water in the capital Santiago due to a drought that has lasted more than a decade.
"We have had 12 years of drought, therefore it's quite likely that we will have this type of situation," Claudio Orrego, the governor of the Santiago metropolitan region, said in a press conference on Monday.
"This is the first time in history that Santiago has a water rationing plan due to the severity of climate change," Orrego said. "It's important for citizens to understand that climate change is here to stay. It's not just global, it's local."
The plan has four stages. The first one, called the "Green Alert," emphasises water conservation and prioritises the use of groundwater.
Then come the "Preventive Early Warning" and "Yellow" stages, which stipulate a reduction in water pressure, while actual water rationing is applied only when the "Red Alert" is declared.
The program covers some 142,000 households that are supplied by the Mapocho River, which crosses the city from east to west.
As well as another 1,545,000 households that are supplied by the Maipo River, which feeds the communes in the south of the city, home to 7.1 million inhabitants.
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Whether or not the government ends up rationing water in the capital will depend on the levels of winter rainfall, officials said.
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