Coquimbo municipality ramps up winter flood defenses and sewage upgrades

The municipality of Coquimbo has intensified its winter flood‑prevention program in the coastal resorts of Guanaqueros and Totoralillo. Municipal teams have been cleaning and maintaining storm‑water drains, channels and collection ducts, using water‑tank trucks, heavy machinery and earth‑moving equipment on streets such as Avda. Federico Schaeffer, Carlos Condell, and in the neighborhoods El Mirador, Los Pescadores and El Milagro. Delegated municipal official Natalia Chávez said, “Los equipos operativos desde marzo comenzaron las labores preventivas del Plan Invierno… y ahora estamos reforzando estos trabajos con el objetivo de anticiparnos a las precipitaciones, disminuir los riesgos de anegamientos, y entregar mayor seguridad a nuestras vecinas y vecinos.”

At the same time, water utility Aguas del Valle reported that renovation work on the wastewater collector along Waldo Alcalde street in Coquimbo is more than 45 % complete. The open‑ditch project, funded with more than 900 million Chilean pesos, stretches 470 metres and will benefit roughly 1,000 households. The works are expected to finish in the first half of August. Traffic diversions have been put in place, redirecting trucks and buses to Gerónimo Méndez and Los Talleres streets while the southern lane of Waldo Alcalde remains closed for three weeks.