Overview
- The Chamber of Deputies formally called public hearings for March 25 (in person) and March 26 (virtual) from 10:00 to 19:00, with registration open until March 20 and written submissions allowed up to ten pages.
- Opposition lawmakers say more than 7,800 people registered in the first 48 hours, raising demands to publish the roll and potentially stretching the timeline, while the ruling bloc maintains the hearings will be limited to the two scheduled days.
- The Senate granted initial approval on February 26 by 40–31 with one abstention, advancing a reform that narrows periglacial definitions, shifts blanket bans to case-by-case hydrological assessments, and expands provincial roles in decisions and the glacier inventory.
- The text approved in the Senate removed proposed roles for the Foreign Ministry in border areas and for an interjurisdictional basin committee, and deputies are now weighing tweaks such as a mechanism to resolve cross-province water disputes.
- Environmental groups decry the bill as a regression that risks water protection and clashes with the Escazú Agreement, while pro-reform voices and analysts frame it as legal clarification that could reduce uncertainty and help unlock copper and lithium investment.