Governance and water use in Guandacol

Abstract

Guandacol is a village in the Felipe Varela department, located on the west of the province of La Rioja (Argentina), 44 kilometers north of Villa Unión city, on route 40, which leads south to the province of San Juan. Guandacol is nestled in the Andean foothill valley of the same name at 1,050 meters above sea level.Those who have studied the region claim that Guandacol is related to the ethnic group of the Capayanes, who spoke the Cacan.There are three tributaries to the waterway in Guandacol: the Troya, Flecha and Guandacol rivers. Their waters have represented the ancient essential resource given by the gods to the people of Guandacol. In this context, the waterway has been a magnet that determined a dwelling place for the people, while it has also meant the very source of life, from the germinating seed up to the ripe fruit.The aim of this text is to review the waterway from the ethno-historical point of view, as well as the indissoluble and unquestionable relationship between the use of water as a resource and the vital mark it has always been for the natives. This relationship surpasses the oversimplification of merely using water as a resource.