San Juan, Puerto Rico.– Interruptions in drinking water service continue to worsen in Puerto Rico, where more than 100,000 subscribers in the metropolitan area and nearby municipalities have been affected by a breakdown in a Superaqueduct pipeline, a situation that has caused unrest among citizens and has forced the Government to take emergency measures.
Water outages add to the problems that residents of San Juan and other localities have been facing for months, who report frequent interruptions, low pressure, and difficulties in accessing the service regularly. The crisis has reignited criticism of the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA) infrastructure, considered by many to be one of the most deteriorated on the island.
Given the magnitude of the situation, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González, activated an emergency executive order authorizing the participation of the National Guard in the distribution of drinking water to the affected communities. As part of the response, tanker trucks were deployed to supply sectors with the greatest difficulty in accessing the resource.
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The governor also announced that the Government and the AAA agreed to grant credits on the bills of subscribers who have suffered multiple service interruptions during the last few weeks, while repair and recovery work on the affected infrastructure continues.
The authorities have reported that the crisis is not related to a water shortage in the island’s main reservoirs. In fact, the Carraízo and La Plata reservoirs maintain levels considered safe, so the problems would be mainly associated with breakdowns, operational deficiencies, and decades of lack of maintenance in key facilities of the distribution system.
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According to the AAA, one of the main causes of the emergency is the deterioration of the Sergio Cuevas filtration plant and the failures recorded in the Superaqueduct, essential infrastructure for water supply in the metropolitan region. In addition, electrical problems were reported in recent days at the La Plata plant, which left several pumps out of operation and affected tens of thousands of users.
The situation has caused outrage among residents, many of whom have had to buy drinking water, go to laundromats, store water in containers, and rely on tanker trucks to meet their basic needs. Some sectors have reported that they have been facing constant service interruptions for weeks.
For her part, the governor assured that her administration is working on a recovery plan for water infrastructure through investments exceeding 217 million dollars, with the goal of correcting the deficiencies affecting the drinking water and sanitation system in various municipalities on the island.
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As repairs continue, thousands of families remain waiting for a definitive solution to a crisis that has highlighted the fragility of public services in Puerto Rico and adds to the recurring problems facing the territory’s electrical grid.
