Status: Approved
Timeframe: 2025-?
Area: Chile, Valparaíso region
AIIB Investment Amount: 10 million USD
Total Project Cost: -
Co-financier: -
E&S Category: FI
Project details: The Aguas Pacifico Project is a desalination initiative in Chile’s central region. According to AIIB, it aims to provide a sustainable freshwater source in response to rising water scarcity and climate-related drought risks. It will be implemented in two phases: Phase I includes the construction of a 1,000 liters per second (l/s) desalination plant, a 104 km aqueduct, and an electricity substation. Phase II will expand the plant’s capacity to 2,000 l/s.
Project Concerns:
Transparency Concerns
The project has been promoted as a multi-use climate resilience initiative meant to address Chile’s growing water scarcity. However, more than half of the desalinated water is destined for Anglo American’s Los Bronces copper mine. Project documents omit this central industrial use, undermining the integrity of the environmental approval process. Key information around water allocations, long-term sustainability, and mining-linked impacts remains opaque and largely inaccessible to the public.
Social Concerns
Local communities were excluded from meaningful participation in project design and decision-making. Consultations have been limited and superficial, with affected populations unaware of the aqueduct’s actual beneficiaries. Complaint mechanisms are available only in English, making it inaccessible for local communities. Environmental defenders and community leaders who speak out against Anglo American and Aguas Pacífico have face harassment and intimidation.
Environmental Concerns
Though presented as a sustainable infrastructure solution, the aqueduct enables large-scale industrial water extraction that could intensify water stress in the region. The pipeline’s construction and mining-related expansion threaten biodiversity-rich zones, including areas at the La Campana-Peñuelas Biosphere Reserve. Filed mining claims by Anglo American in sensitive ecosystems raise further concerns about the project’s long-term ecological impact.
Organization monitoring: Defensoria Climática
Further information:
Last update: 22.09.2025