Water Governance in Ñuble Vigilance Boards

Assessment Using OECD’s Twelve Water Governance Principles

Abstract

In Chile, the water crisis and the management model based on private water‑use rights have placed considerable pressure on water‑user organizations, particularly the Juntas de Vigilancia. However, there are still few empirical instruments capable of measuring the quality of their governance. This article presents a quantitative, descriptive and correlational study that adapts the OECD Water Governance Indicator Framework to the Juntas de Vigilancia in the Ñuble Region. A questionnaire was applied to thirty-five specialists involved in regional water management, and the responses were analysed through frequency distributions, a graphical “governance traffic light”, and Spearman rank correlations between the existence, progress and consensus dimensions of the twelve OECD principles. The results show an institutional architecture in transition, with strengths in roles, capacities and regulatory frameworks, and weaknesses in policy coherence, financing and evaluation. The article contributes evidence to operationalize water governance as a measurable variable in the Chilean context and provides inputs for territorial planning policies oriented towards sustainable development.