11 9 transparency, coordinated allocation and long-term planning across users. This reframes water from a permitting requirement into a shared infrastructure system that determines both environmental sustainability and project bankability. Water availability already constrains mineral production, particularly copper, where a significant share of output exceeds regional availability limits. Relocating production to less stressed areas is often economically unfeasible, making water scarcity a structural constraint rather than a marginal environmental issue. Adaptive basin- and regional-scale management is therefore essential to sustain future mineral supply under rising demand (Islam, et al., 2025). Interviews corroborate this shift, with company representatives describing water as a determinant of operational continuity rather than mere regulatory compliance. Investment decisions are primarily driven by shutdown risk, leading to greater emphasis on anticipatory planning, supply redundancy, and basin-level coordination (Osores, personal communication, 2025). Nature-Based Solutions complement engineered infrastructure by regulating -rather than increasing- water availability. Wetland restoration, infiltration systems, and watershed conservation stabilize dry-season flows and buffer extreme events. This function becomes critical under climate change, where variability -not average supply- drives operational risk. The interviews reinforce these conclusions by showing how companies operationalize integrated water management. Mining water systems are managed as strategic systems combining governance, engineering, monitoring and stakeholder engagement. Particularly in headwater regions, operations directly affect downstream users, making watershed-level planning essential to maintain social license and operational continuity (Quiroz, personal communication, 2025). Operational experience confirms the economic rationale identified in the literature. High levels of water recirculation drastically reduce freshwater demand and operating costs. More importantly, preventing shutdowns -often costing millions per day- makes preventive water management financially rational. The economic driver is therefore continuity and risk avoidance rather than compliance. Long-term liabilities reinforce this logic. In tailings management and mine closure, underestimated water risks can multiply post-closure costs. Incorporating climate variability and hydrological uncertainty into design raises upfront investment but prevents far larger remediation expenses. Sustainable water management thus operates as life-cycle financial risk management. (Quiroz, Osores, personal communication, 2025) In addition, in water-intensive mining operations, limited or uncertain water availability increases marginal production costs through higher extraction, transport, treatment, or alternative sourcing expenditures (International Energy Agency, 2021). More critically, variability in water supply introduces production volatility, affecting output stability and revenue predictability, with companies reporting material financial impacts from water-related
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