**5. Conclusion**

The availability of water in Chile is of crucial interest for the near future since it is one of the countries that will be more affected by climate change. The regions that show a higher risk are those located in the central part of the country that are ruled by dry subhumid conditions (Mediterranean climate type) and inhabited by almost half of the total population. This forecast should serve the decision-makers to prepare a new scenario in which high consuming crops in water such as avocado (*Persea americana*) and mining activities perhaps cannot be exploited due to lack of water. Another controversial question that should be treated in the future is the role in water management of the DGA (*Dirección General de Aguas*) since it is a national agency and the regional differences detected can be a good indication of the necessity of making decisions at a regional level, i.e. by the regional governments of each one of the current 16 regions of the country. Finally, more efforts in data collection are still needed both by part of the scientists and by governments that grant research programmes, funds, and scholarships.
