Urgency decree accelerates water works in anticipation of the El Niño Phenomenon

Urgency Decree No. 013-2026 authorizes the National Water Authority (ANA) to acquire supplies, goods, and services for the operation and maintenance of equipment, machinery, and vehicles intended for cleaning, desilting, and the construction of embankments at critical points prone to flooding. The regulation was published on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, in the Official Gazette El Peruano (Year XLIII, No. 19548) and bears the signature of President Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi. The measure seeks to accelerate interventions in response to the 2026-2027 El Niño Phenomenon, whose peak of greatest severity is expected to last until mid-autumn 2027.

Urgency Decree No. 013-2026 incorporates the Third Final Complementary Provision into Urgency Decree No. 008-2026, which established measures for the execution of interventions in the face of imminent danger due to intense rainfall associated with the 2026-2027 El Niño Phenomenon. The measure is based on Official Communiqués ENFEN No. 015-2026, dated August 28, 2026, and ENFEN No. 016-2026, dated September 14, 2026, from the Multisectoral Commission in Charge of the National Study of the “El Niño” Phenomenon.

According to those reports, the peak of greatest severity of the Coastal El Niño will continue until mid-autumn 2027, with the highest probability of an extraordinary magnitude between September 2026 and January 2027. Above-normal rainfall is expected for the northern coast, with episodes of moderate to strong intensity starting in November.

What the regulation authorizes

The Third Final Complementary Provision exceptionally authorizes the National Water Authority to acquire supplies, goods, and services for the operation and maintenance of equipment, machinery, and vehicles owned by public sector entities and/or private sector institutions. The acquisition requires two conditions:

• Prior technical evaluation by the competent body of the ANA.
• Signing of the respective agreement with the owner of the equipment.

The objective is to optimize the execution deadlines for cleaning, desilting, and embankment construction activities authorized in numeral 2.1 of article 2 of Urgency Decree No. 008-2026, at the critical points detailed in Annex I of the regulation. Funding will be charged to the resources allocated in numeral 2.2 of article 2 of the same decree, without incurring further expenses for the Public Treasury. The recitals recall that part of the machinery used was acquired under the framework of Urgency Decree No. 015-2023.

The territorial scope of the emergency

Urgency Decree No. 008-2026 authorized the ANA to intervene in districts of Áncash, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Lima, Piura, and Tumbes, which were declared in a state of emergency by Supreme Decree No. 097-2026-PCM. Subsequently, Supreme Decree No. 124-2026-PCM extended the state of emergency to districts in the following jurisdictions:

• Amazonas, Áncash, Apurímac, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Huancavelica, Huánuco, Ica, and Junín.
• La Libertad, Lambayeque, Lima, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Moquegua, Pasco, Piura, San Martín, Tacna, Tumbes, and Ucayali.
• The Constitutional Province of Callao.

Urgency Decree No. 010-2026, published on September 2, 2026, specifies that this declaration covered 893 districts across the country.

Legal Basis and Endorsement

The provision invokes numeral 19 of article 118 of the Political Constitution of Peru, which empowers the President of the Republic to issue extraordinary measures with the force of law regarding economic and financial matters, subject to reporting to the Senate. It also relies on Law No. 29664, which creates the National System for Disaster Risk Management (SINAGERD).

Urgency Decree No. 013-2026 was issued at the Government House in Lima on September 28, 2026, and endorsed by:

• Luis Fernando Galarreta Velarde, President of the Council of Ministers.
• Elmer Rafael Cuba Bustinza, Minister of Economy and Finance.
• Marco Antonio Vinelli Ruiz, Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation.

The regulation responds to the need for speed supported by the ANA due to the recurrence of floods and mass movements in riverbeds and ravines. By reducing contracting deadlines and enabling the use of third-party machinery, the Executive seeks to decrease the exposure of the population and public infrastructure in the areas declared in emergency, and to avoid higher rehabilitation and reconstruction costs when the peak of the climatic phenomenon hits the northern coast starting in November.

Source: Official Gazette El Peruano, Year XLIII, No. 19548, Tuesday, September 29, 2026, Legal Norms section, pgs. 4-5 (official reference: 2559167-1).