Water-wheels in Chile: a vernacular irrigation system in rainfed land
Abstract
Exposed to adverse conditions, human creativity is superimposed. A sample of this virtue is the appearance of the azudas or wheels of water in agriculture. It was dominate the arid and semi-arid, environments achieving an efficient irrigation of fields for cultivation. In America, the examples on the use of water wheels are scarce. They exist as a reference for the implementation of azudas, in the central valley of Chile, in the O’Higgins Region, which have been considered as a sort of extension of the vernacular architecture of the town of Larmahue. Even if they have been recognized nationally and abroad, they have had to face natural disasters, legal abandonment, and what is worse, the lack of interest and resources to maintain them.
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