Puerto Rico is rationing water, but many residents stopped trusting the tap long before the drought

Since August 7, 2026, over 180,000 customers in San Juan and six nearby municipalities in Puerto Rico have faced 48-hour water rationing. This means their water supply is cut off for two days, then restored for two days, and the cycle repeats. The official reason is a severe drought that has depleted the island’s reservoirs, with July 2026 being the driest month in San Juan in over 120 years. Additionally, the Superaqueduct, an aging pipe system that transports water to the metro area, ruptured in June 2026, further reducing water supplies. Governor Jenniffer González stated that the situation is beyond the government’s control, but experts note that long-standing infrastructure issues also play a major role.

Water rationing is not new to Puerto Rico. In 2015, a drought left 400,000 customers receiving water every third day, and similar shortages occurred again in 2020. After Hurricane Maria in 2017, some areas went nearly five months without reliable water service. Many residents have been living with intermittent water supply for years. For example, one San Juan neighborhood experienced 123 days of outages over 13 months before the latest rationing began. Some communities have been so affected that they no longer distinguish between the current rationing schedule and their pre-existing water problems.

Puerto Rico’s water system suffers from aging infrastructure, including the Superaqueduct and roughly 15,000 miles of distribution pipes that leak continuously. In fiscal year 2024, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA), the government-owned water company, lost nearly half of its water production—267 million gallons out of 513 million gallons per day—to leaks before it reached customers. The utility’s plan aims to reduce water losses by only 6% since 2019, despite an estimated annual cost of nearly $100 million in wasted water and over $200 million in lost revenue. Repairs are slow due to prioritization of projects eligible for federal reimbursement, such as treatment plants and hurricane reconstruction, rather than fixing the smaller pipes where most water is lost.

Beyond supply shortages, many Puerto Ricans distrust the tap water due to past quality problems. An analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data found that in 2015, Puerto Rico’s water systems had more health and other violations than any other U.S. state or territory. In 2021, 17 of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities had systems classified as serious violators by the EPA. Residents report issues like water tasting salty, smelling of dead animals after Hurricane Maria, or causing illness even after boiling. Sixty-four percent of households surveyed in 2022 by researchers from Iowa State University mistrusted their tap water, with many relying on bottled water despite its higher cost.

PRASA faces financial challenges, with $1.1 billion in annual revenue unable to cover its $1.3 billion operating costs and $240 to $270 million in annual debt payments on $3.8 billion in long-term debt. This is why most repairs depend on federal funding, which is provided as reimbursements and has slowed due to new procedural requirements added by FEMA in 2025. The $2.2 billion needed for distribution and transmission pipe repairs far exceeds the funding PRASA receives. Additionally, PRASA has spent two decades under federal consent decrees for violating the Clean Water Act by releasing raw sewage into waterways, further straining its ability to address water system needs.