Empresa de Servicios Sanitarios de Los Lagos (Essal) is company that provides

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

and sanitation in the Chilean regions of Los Ríos and Los Lagos. It was established in 1990 and has its headquarter in

Puerto Montt Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spa ...

. The parent company is Aguas Andinas and it has been controlled by the Spanish company

Agbar The Agbar Group is a benchmark in the complete water cycle and environmental management sector. It started out as Aigües de Barcelona and as of 2022 is part of the Veolia Group With more than 150 years' experience, Agbar currently has over 15, ...

since 2008. The company was responsible for a crisis that left the city of Osorno without water supply from July 10 to July 21 in 2019. The origin of the crisis was an oil spill that affected both the water supply and

Rahue River Rahue River () is a river of Chile located in Los Lagos Region. It rises at the western end of the Rupanco Lake. In its middle course, the river flows through the city of Osorno in a north-south direction. Rahue river empties into the Bueno River ...

. In a

popular consultation A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

held in Osorno following the

2019 Chilean protests Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

over 90% of the participants voted to end ESSAL's concession. Results are however, not binding. During the

2021 Panguipulli riots 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

its office in

Panguipulli Panguipulli ( ; Mapudungun for "hill of the puma") is a city and commune in Valdivia Province, southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Panguipulli. It is located on the western edge of Panguipulli Lake, and is on a moraine in the Chi ...

caught fire causing the company to open a new office in a different place of the city a few days later.

References

{{reflist Water companies of Chile Companies based in Los Lagos Region