On September 2, 2019, representatives of the Las Salinas team, together with the Scientific Committee, attended one of the ordinary sessions of the Viña del Mar City Council, in order to speak to the city’s civil organizations about the cleanup project for the Las Salinas site. The Las Salinas team was represented by Esteban Undurraga, the company’s development manager; Camilo Quiroga, head of the environmental area; and Gonzalo Undurraga, community relations coordinator. First of all, a tour was made of the history of the land, describing its urban value for the region, and finally showing the broad outlines of the urban project to be developed, which is mainly focused on public spaces. Subsequently, the team – made up of professors and researchers Salvador Donghi (PUCV), Luis Álvarez (PUCV), Marcel Szantó (PUCV), Michael Seeger (USM) and Roberto Orellana (USM) – made a complete presentation of the proposal to clean up the Las Salinas site, which is based on the technique of the “urban planning”. In a dynamic that included a presentation and questions from the audience, the experts referred to the large amount of contaminated soils that exist in Chile and the possibility of recovering them, the existing techniques and clarified why the bioremediation technique was chosen for the Las Salinas site and how it is a safe technique for people and the environment, demonstrating the complete knowledge they have regarding the consortium of native bacteria proposed to be used, showing that they even know the genome of these microorganisms. The session closed with an open invitation from Esteban Undurraga to generate a guided tour of the site, for those interested in learning more and checking the status of the site first hand. This activity took place on Saturday, September 7th with the attendance of several COSOC members. If you want to download the minutes of the presentation of Las Salinas, you can do so.
