1541 - Pedro de Valdivia founded the city of Santiago de la Nueva Extremadura at the southern side of the Mapocho River. The location of the city was decided considering the existence of “water nearby”, provided by the river, to satisfy the different needs of the population.
1578 - Inauguration of the San Saturnino fountain at the southern side of the Santa Lucía hill, to distribute pure and crystalline water from the Ramón creek. In 1609, a great flood destroyed the fountain and the infrastructure that supplied it. The inhabitants of the city had to return to the waters of the Mapocho River for water supply.
1671 - Thewaters of the Ramon's creek return to the city. They were distributed from a fountain, four meters high and equipped with two bronze trays, located in the Plaza de Armas. Two decades later, this fountain was no longer in operation, once again depriving the people of Santiago of the water from the creek.
1766 - A basin located where the Fuente Alemana monument now stands, near Plaza Baquedano, once again provided water from the Ramon's Creek to the city. However, in 1783, a new flood completely destroyed the water infrastructure coming from that fountain.
1829 - Inauguration of the San Carlos canal, built thanks to the initiative of the Sociedad del Canal de Maipo. Throughout its history, this canal has played an important role in the city's drinking water supply.
1842 - The lawyer Antonio García Reyes and the surveyor José Vicente Larraín Espinoza created an “industrial society” with the purpose of supplying “pure water” to the inhabitants of the capital. The project did not prosper due to lack of financing.
1854 - Under the direction of the Municipality of Santiago, iron pipes began to be installed to supply water to the inhabitants. The person hired by the municipality to import and install these first iron pipes was Mr. Guillermo Wheelwright, an American businessman who later was in charge of the construction of the first railroad line in Chile, between Copiapó and Caldera. The lack of a decanter tank to clean the water caused numerous obstructions that interrupted the service. For the most part, the people of Santiago were forced to continue to get their water from the water carriers.
1859 - The engineer Manuel Valdés Vigil agreed with the Municipality of Santiago to organize the Empresa de Agua Potable de Santiago. The municipality designated a commission to formulate the legal basis for a proposal where private entrepreneurs would have the right to provide drinking water to the city.
1861 - By a decree, the Municipality of Santiago granted the Empresa de Agua Potable de Santiago the right to use for thirty years the water that belonged to it for drinking, washing, cleaning and other domestic uses of the population. Likewise, the prices for the sale of water to consumers were determined. Manuel Valdés Vigil looked for investors and tried to obtain credits to start up the company, however, his task was not successful.
1864 - The Municipality of Santiago decided to invest the resources required to make the project viable, becoming a limited partner in the ownership of the Empresa de Agua Potable de Santiago. A new agreement with Manuel Valdés Vigil consecrated him as director of the company and the municipality compromised to finance the necessary infrastructure works to provide drinking water to the center of the city. The mayor Federico Errázuriz Zañartu, who later was elected President of the Republic (1871-1876), was in charge of the municipality at that time and led the new agreement.
1865 - Construction was completed on a covered aqueduct, which brought drinking water to the city from the Ramon´s Creek and two clarifying reservoirs, nominally designed to hold sixteen thousand cubic meters each. As time went by, these reservoirs became known as La Reina reservoirs.
1866 - With a solemn ceremony in which the highest authorities of the country participated, the drinking water service was inaugurated in Santiago. The initial coverage area was between the streets Seminario to the east, Alameda de las Delicias to the south, Baratillos (now Manuel Rodríguez) to the west, and the Mapocho River to the north. The first customers of Empresa de Agua Potable de Santiago were 88 private homes and 21 industrial establishments.
1872 - At the request of the Mayor of Santiago, Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, the Municipality of Santiago purchased its rights over the company of drinking water of Santiago from Manuel Valdés Vigil. With this, the company became a municipally owned company, leaving behind its period of limited liability. Thus, an aggressive plan to expand coverage was initiated.
1873 - In order to study their potential as water sources for the different requirements of the city, Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna led a scientific expedition to the Negra and Encañado lagoons, located 25 kilometers southeast of San José de Maipo. Lack of financing made it impossible to take advantage, at that time, of the water resources stored there.
1893 - The first water catchments were made from Vitacura. These waters were obtained by means of drains, of more than one kilometer of extension, after which they converged and were directed towards the ponds of Providencia. The water from Vitacura drains was of great importance to the city, alleviating the need for this resource experienced by the city's inhabitants.
1896 - Law N°342 was promulgated, which established the mandatory service of sewage through sewers or pipes. Cities with more than 5 thousand inhabitants had to provide such services on a mandatory basis. With this measure, the construction and operation of sewage services by private individuals, under the supervision of the municipalities, was promoted.
1898 - In order to improve its financial management, Law N° 1,012 January 31, 1898, modified the ownership structure of the Empresa de Agua Potable de Santiago. From being a municipally-owned company, the company was transformed into an autonomous fiscal company.
1905 - The construction of the sewage system in Santiago began. The purpose of this modern drainage system was to safely carry sewage out of the city, replacing the irrigation ditches that had served this purpose until then and that were a source of environmental pollution with harmful consequences for the health of the population. Developed under the direction of the French company Battignolles-Fould, the works were delivered to the city between 1907 and 1910.
1917 - The works that made it possible to take advantage of the water resources of the Negra and Encañado lagoons were inaugurated. The infrastructure included the construction of an 87-kilometer-long aqueduct, called Laguna Negra, with its respective supply and distribution pipes. In addition, a new reservoir was built to store and regulate the city's water supply. This structure, which was built during the World War I, was commissioned to the engineer and philosopher Luis Lagarrigue, who had already done work for the San Carlos Canal and the Florida hydroelectric plant.
1919 - The Empresa de Agua Potable de Santiago acquired land at Alameda of Las Delicias 1123, where it erected a building for its central offices. In the following decade, it set up new premises on Vicuña Mackenna Avenue, to be used as stores and workshops.
1952 - Built to increase the availability of drinking water for the population, Las Vizcachas filter plant was inaugurated at full capacity. This facility, located in the district of Puente Alto, was fed by the Maipo River. The plant had an initial nominal capacity of 4 cubic meters per second, which made it “one of the largest works of its kind in South America”.
1967 - The El Yeso reservoir was inaugurated, 23 kilometers upriver from the junction of the Yeso River with the Maipo River. The construction of this public work meant a great advance, since it allowed the Maipo River waters to be used for domestic and agricultural purposes.
1969 - Las Vizcachitas plant was inaugurated, located on the same land as the Las Vizcachas filter plant. The water intake for its supply was provided directly from the Maipo River, through the so-called Bocatoma Independiente.
