Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, August 22, 2026 — SEAPAL Vallarta is preparing a legal case against the Puerto Vallarta–Las Varas highway concessionaire after delays in hydraulic work extended a planned water shutdown across roughly 40 percent of the city and forced the utility to take control of the project.
Mayor Luis Ernesto Munguía González confirmed that SEAPAL’s legal team is assembling a case file to determine responsibility linked to the interruption. The company identified in the case is Concesionaria de la Autopista Puerto Vallarta–Las Varas S.A. de C.V.
The dispute centers on work around the San Francisco storage tank, which distributes water across much of northern Puerto Vallarta. The highway project required four connections between new and existing infrastructure, including a 24-inch filling line and a 36-inch distribution line.
The planned second stage of the work began at 6 a.m. Wednesday, August 12. SEAPAL initially expected recovery to start Friday afternoon in 80 lower and central neighborhoods, continue Saturday across 52 areas of El Pitillal and reach 10 upper neighborhoods by Sunday.
That schedule collapsed when the concessionaire failed to complete the connections within the agreed period. SEAPAL subsequently reported a 36-hour delay, leaving areas such as Coapinole, Volcanes, El Progreso, El Salitrillo, Maralta and Vista Pacífico waiting longer than originally announced.
The utility eventually took direct control of the unfinished work and deployed its own personnel, machinery and equipment. After more than 72 hours of continuous operations, SEAPAL reported on August 19 that the principal San Francisco tank connections had been completed and the network was being repressurized.
At that stage, 80 neighborhoods in the lower city and Hotel Zone were able to begin receiving water. Another 64 areas in the middle and upper sections of El Pitillal were moving through the recovery process.
Official updates used two totals during the disruption. The original August 11 notice listed 142 affected colonias and residential developments. SEAPAL’s later operational breakdown covered 80 lower areas and 64 middle and upper areas, producing the subsequent total of 144. Both figures placed the reach of the outage at about 40 percent of the city.
The August interruption followed two other large outages connected to the same highway project and San Francisco supply system.
A first-stage pipeline relocation in June interrupted service across 136 neighborhoods. One month later, an emergency leak in a supply line being handled by the concessionaire affected 139 Puerto Vallarta areas. The August work was the third broad disruption tied to the corridor in roughly eight weeks.
SEAPAL’s latest service update, issued Friday, said most affected neighborhoods had recovered water. Intermittent service, low pressure and temporary losses could continue in middle and upper sections while storage tanks refill.
The utility said households account for about 75 percent of local water consumption, while businesses, restaurants, hotels and other tourism operations use the remaining 25 percent. Thousands of properties refilling cisterns and rooftop tanks at the same time have slowed the recovery of pressure in elevated areas.
SEAPAL is keeping water trucks and vehicles equipped with portable tanks in neighborhoods still reporting interruptions. Supply requests can be made through the utility’s WhatsApp line at 322 105 8226. Its Gogomático stations also remain available to refill drinking-water containers without charge.
