Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, September 30, 2026 — SEAPAL lacks funding for a sewer overhaul, director Carlos Ruiz said in remarks published Sept. 30 as overflows affect Versalles, Díaz Ordaz and Las Glorias.
Ruiz put the proposed collector rehabilitation at 650 million pesos. He said the utility must seek state and federal funding.
“We do not have the resources right now,” Ruiz said, speaking in Spanish. He said the project is ready to submit for financing.
Sewage affects school access and neighborhood streets
According to Sept. 28 reporting from the affected area, sewage overflowed along Niza, Havre, Hamburgo, Liverpool, Palm Spring and other streets.
The account also described parents and pupils crossing flooded approaches to Manuel López Cotilla primary school that Monday.
Business owner Arturo Monroy, whose premises sit at Niza and Boulevard Francisco Medina Ascencio, described discharges that stopped and resumed.
“Shortly after 9 a.m., sewage began spilling here in Versalles again,” Monroy said in comments published that day, translated from Spanish.
Pumping and drainage work continue
In a Sept. 30 update on mitigation work, Ruiz said crews were removing sediment manually and with suction trucks in Las Glorias. He said personnel and equipment would remain while those operations continued.
SEAPAL also outlined plans for surface piping and a six-inch pump if further rain caused water to accumulate. The utility said those measures would help reduce flooding toward Boulevard Francisco Medina Ascencio and parts of Versalles.
At the Norte I wastewater treatment plant in Las Mojoneras, SEAPAL reported installing a pump after recent rain damaged equipment. The utility said the replacement would improve wastewater flow, particularly from Versalles.
SEAPAL’s Sept. 25 inspection notice explains that Norte I also pumps wastewater onward to the Norte II treatment plant. That inspection included the Raquet and El Tornillo pumping stations in Las Glorias.
Ruiz identified another restriction at Avenida México and Avenida Las Palmas: a 48-inch collector narrows to 24 inches. He said resizing that connection would help reduce recurring blockages affecting low-lying neighborhoods.
That intersection also appeared in our July coverage of sewer work in Mojoneras, when repairs were expected to restrict traffic.
Funding concerns predate September’s overflows
We traced the funding request back to remarks reported June 10, when Ruiz estimated a full Centro-Norte collector rehabilitation at about 650 million pesos.
He said then that the cost exceeded SEAPAL’s financial capacity. The utility was preparing an engineering project to seek outside support.
SEAPAL’s June notice announcing a completed repair documented reconstruction of a failed collector section near El Capricho and Avenida Prisciliano Sánchez.
The utility said crews worked more than six meters underground, protected a drinking-water main and built a new concrete structure. Its announcement described a permanent repair at that specific failure point.
Restaurants urged to control grease discharges
At a restaurant-industry meeting reported Sept. 28, Ruiz urged businesses to install and maintain grease traps.
SEAPAL discharges coordinator José Alberto Colín Ponce said fats build up in sewer pipes and obstruct wastewater flow. He offered restaurant operators waste-management training and called for collected grease to go through authorized waste handlers.
