Universalización de acceso a agua potable y alcantarillado en un país periférico: el caso chileno, c. 1880-2020

This article analyzes the mechanisms and rhythms that made it possible to achieve the near universalization of drinking water (DW), urban wastewater treatment (UWT), and sewerage services (SS) in Chile in a period of 130 years. It is shown that the state and public institutions had a central role in developing projects to universalize sanitation infrastructure. Convinced that this would reduce public health problems, a low-cost tariff policy was favored, even if this implied the generation of operational deficits and a high dependence on the ordinary public budget. The system was only privatized at the end of the 20th century when the coverage rate was already above 90% for DW and SS, which in turn brought investment rates that allowed reaching 100% coverage in 2012 in DW, SS, and UWT.