San José de Maipo may be the community in the capital region which has the strongest connection between its cultural identity, its economic development and the extraction and use of geological resources. Espinosa et al. (2011) describe a few examples of this connection, such as the silver mining area in San Pedro de Nolasco, discovered in front of the town San Gabriel in 1692, and which was described by Ignacio Domeyko and mentioned by Charles Darwin, among others. These developments led to the population of the region, and in 1792 to the foundation of Villa Alta de San José de Maipo by the Chilean governor Ambrosio O’Higgins.

Another example is the construction of the Canal San Carlos. The idea was initially conceived at the beginning of the 19th century, however, the artificial channel was built in 1920. It carries water from the Maipo into the Mapocho and therefore allowed a noticeable development of agriculture in the Mapocho Valley in the 20th century. Approximately 90,000 ha in the southeast of Santiago are irrigated (Espinosa et al., 2011) by this channel.

At the end of the 20th century, several mines in the area around El Volcán began with the extraction of raw materials. This developed into an emerging industry, which at its peak, extracted more than 40% of Chilean copper (Ilustre Municipalidad de San José de Maipo, 2010).

In the mountains that belong to the municipality, there are the sources of the Maipo and its tributaries, which build the hydrographic system. It spreads over 15,380 km² (Ormeño, 2007), 5,000 km² of which are in the administrative area of the municipality. Nowadays, the Maipo meets 70% to 90% of the needs of drinking water, including irrigation of the capital region (Dirección General de Aguas, 2004). The municipal area in the river bed of the Maipo also represents a source of electricity. The company AES Gener S.A. operates several hydroelectric power plants there, such as Maitenes (30.8 MW), Alfalfal (178 MW), Queltehues (48.9 MW) and El Volcán (13 MW).

In the municipality there are seven thermal springs, from north to south: Tupungato, Salinillas, El Plomo, Baños Morales, Termas de Colina, Puente de Tierra y Baños Azules. The first six were described by Bustamante et al. (2010), but for Baños Azules no bibliography describing the water quality has been found.