The diversion has damaged wetlands in the region and consequently the expansion project "Vilavilani II" - which would take additional water directly from the Mauri River - has engendered opposition.

[12] This has also resulted in damage to the wetlands that are located along the Uchusuma,[13] as well as complaints by the Bolivian government.

[14] Canal Mauri is a transbasin diversion that transports water from the Lake Titicaca watershed to the Pacific slope.

These canals have capacities of 0.8 cubic metres per second (28 cu ft/s),[18] they collect water from tributaries of the Mauri River to transfer it to the Uchusuma.

[24] It crosses the Cordillera Barroso through the 2.2 kilometres (1.4 mi) long Huaylillas Sur tunnel,[25][22] the water then enters the Quebrada Vilavilani proper.

[4] The Quebrada Vilavilani descends the Andes in southwestward direction, where it has several different names, and ends close to the city of Tacna into the Caplina River.

Construction of the canal finally began in 1921, over the objection of Bolivia which was concerned about navigation on the Desaguadero River (where the Mauri ends into) being impeded by the loss of water and water supply issues;[28] Bolivia however succeeded insofar as the Mauri River itself was not diverted.

[1] An early proposal by the engineer Jorge Vargas Salcedo envisaged transferring 5.8 cubic metres per second (200 cu ft/s) of water 65 kilometres (40 mi) from the Mauri to the Laguna Blanca[29] northwest of General Lagos on the present-day Peru-Chile border.

[38] Hydrological analysis of this concept (along with two planned reservoirs at Chuapalca and Chilicollpa)[11] suggest that the Mauri River would lose about 50% of its flow through such diversions and even more during drought periods.

[43] The mine with reserves estimated to be 555,000 ounces gold as of 2015[update] is 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) from the canal.

Minsur as a compromise undertook a project to cover part of the canal to resolve issues.