Chilean water utilities will invest US$700mn by 2022 to secure services amidst an intense drought, while the government will invest 350bn pesos (US$462mn) in rural water systems during the same period.

“We have to face this not as a one-year problem, but as a persistent situation,” public works minister Alfredo Moreno said during a seminar organized by water regulator SISS.

Aside from the utilities and rural water investments, the government also has a US$6bn water reservoir plan.

Asked if the recent social protests have affected the financing of these projects, Moreno told BNamericas that so far neither his ministry's (MOP) nor water utilities' financing capacities have been affected.

About ongoing works, he said Aguas Andinas is readying a US$37mn capacity expansion of its Padre Hurtado potable water plant in Santiago’s La Reina district, while Valparaíso’s utility Esval is expected to start works on a US$36mn link between Los Aromos reservoir and a water plant in Concón, to be finished next year.

He added the government’s bill to reform the local water utilities law will probably be presented to congress this year, but the text is still being reviewed by the finances ministry.

Moreno said the bill will “strengthen development plans, we need to have a strengthened SISS for oversight, we need to maintain the good indicators of water utilities but also improve parameters that aren’t so good, such as losses in water networks.”