![\"Milagros](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01-img-4881.JPG\")
<\/p>\n\n Milagros Pica Qui\u00f1ones\u2019 small concrete home is an untamed menagerie of bottles, paint buckets, bleach and laundry detergent jugs.\n <\/p>\n
\n The 96-year-old grandmother in the impoverished oceanfront town of Loiza, in Puerto Rico\u2019s northeast, sees \u201cthe thinnest thread of water\u201d trickling from her faucet most days before service is shut off from 10 p.m. until dawn.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI drag the buckets away with whatever strength I have and I cover them,\u201d Pica Qui\u00f1ones said. \u201cThree buckets in the bathroom. One in my kitchen. Outside, I have three, two-gallon buckets. In front of the house: 15 smaller, gallon-sized containers. Next to a wall \u2013 10 large bottles.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n The scramble to find water \u2013 collecting it in small vessels and cisterns \u2013 is a daily survival routine for hundreds of thousands of other US citizens on the island due to widespread service interruptions. The most vulnerable \u2013 the elderly, the sick, low-income people \u2013 are forced to bear the heaviest burden.\n <\/p>\n
\n Billed as a beautiful and vibrant tourist destination, Puerto Rico is home to 3.2 million Americans who face an exhausting daily struggle for necessities like clean, running water. Pica Qui\u00f1ones, whose showers consist of dipping a red Solo cup into a bucket, thinks about water all the time.\n <\/p>\n
\n The US territory\u2019s fragile water situation reached a new critical point over the summer \u2013 exacerbated by drought and what experts say is mismanagement and aging infrastructure, including a lack of investment and maintenance. On Friday, people living in the capital of San Juan and nearby communities completed their third full week on mandatory water rationing schedules.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Forced to endure up to two days without running water, residents must rely on bucket baths and dry shampoo, use bottled water for cooking and making coffee, paper plates and plastic utensils to eat, and occasionally forgo laundry, housecleaning and toilet flushing. All while their water bills keep coming.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen you have a drought colliding with an aging infrastructure, that\u2019s more than a drought. That\u2019s a humanitarian crisis, and it\u2019s a crisis which is deep,\u201d said Northeastern University chemistry professor Eugene Smotkin, who lives in Old San Juan with his wife. \u201cIt\u2019s not a drought story.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer Gonz\u00e1lez-Col\u00f3n declared a state of emergency<\/a> July 31 due to the drought. It\u2019s unknown how long the rationing measures will remain in place, she said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is a situation that we never expected to happen,\u201d the Republican governor told CNN earlier this month, referring to the drought.\n <\/p>\n \n The US Department of Agriculture approved a drought disaster declaration<\/a> on the island, allowing farmers and agricultural producers in 26 municipalities to access emergency loans, the governor\u2019s office announced Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n \n The governor told MS NOW this week she was \u201cnot ruling out\u201d asking Washington for a national emergency declaration, which would unleash massive federal funding for Puerto Rico. Her government, Gonz\u00e1lez-Col\u00f3n said, need to \u201cexhaust all the local assets, all the resources before asking for a national declaration of emergency.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI totally understand the frustration,\u201d she said of island residents who blame the government for the longtime water woes, acknowledging a lack of maintenance to the island\u2019s infrastructure.\n <\/p>\n \n The capital of San Juan recorded its driest month on record in more than 120 years in July, said Emanuel Rodriguez, a hydrologist at National Weather Service in San Juan.\n <\/p>\n \n Most of the island archipelago is experiencing moderate to extreme drought conditions, affecting more than 3 million people, according to the US Drought Monitor.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Lakes and streams \u2013 some at or near record lows \u2013 are losing water amid a rainfall deficit that could last months, Rodriguez said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe could stay below normal (rainfall levels) at least until January,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n \n The water emergency is also a consequence of the deteriorating infrastructure, particularly a series of recent ruptures in the so-called Superaqueduct<\/a>, a crucial 72-inch pipeline that carries potable water 50 miles along the northern coast to the densely populated San Juan metro area.\n <\/p>\n \n Since the pipeline\u2019s rupture in June, the Puerto Rico National Guard and government agencies from throughout the island have been distributing potable water from cistern trucks, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n The governor\u2019s office and the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority did not respond to multiple requests for comment.\n <\/p>\n Drought deepens in Puerto Rico\n <\/p>\n Drought deepens in Puerto Rico<\/p>\n 6:09<\/p>\n \n Carlos Pesquera, a civil engineer and former secretary of transportation and head of public works who was appointed by the governor as an advisor on the water crisis, said the drought \u201cis the immediate trigger\u201d of the current emergency, \u201cbut it does not fully explain the vulnerability\u201d of the water system.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cPuerto Rico has aging infrastructure, significant water losses and areas where greater redundancy and resilience are needed,\u201d Pesquera, a member of the pro-statehood governing party, told CNN via email.\n <\/p>\n \n Before the recent ruptures, nearly 60% of water treated by the aqueduct and sewer authority was lost mostly due to \u201cinaccurate meters, unauthorized water consumption, or water main leaks,\u201d according to a 2019 report on the island\u2019s infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Hilda Rodr\u00edguez, the 58-year-old executive director of a San Juan nonprofit, has been keeping a log of waterless days at her home in the Monteflores neighborhood in the Santurce section of the capital. She started it five years ago, using a water droplet emoji \ud83d\udca7 to track on her cell phone the days without water.\n <\/p>\n \n This year, the log shows more than 200 days without water.\n <\/p>\n \n In 2025, there were 175 days. The previous year: 142 days. In 2023, 100 days. And 136 days in 2022. A year earlier, 22 days.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI needed to write all this down because no one would believe me,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cIn Puerto Rico, we make a joke of everything. It\u2019s the best way to survive all the things that happen to us \u2013 one way to escape as we keep going.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n This crisis is no joke.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt\u2019s one stumble after another,\u201d said Rodr\u00edguez, who has also been tracking every phone complaint she\u2019s made to the water utility over the years. \u201cJust when you think you\u2019re finally getting back up, something else happens.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In another Santurce neighborhood, a group known as \u201cExigimos Agua\u201d (We Demand Water) has also kept an online log<\/a> of days without water or electrical power since 2024, when 57 waterless days and 58 days without power were tracked by the Machuchal residents. So far this year, the group says there have been more than 140 days with no water and at least 24 days without electricity.\n <\/p>\n \n Puerto Ricans, including the more than 2 million living in the San Juan metro area, have long endured major droughts made worse by the aging water system.\n <\/p>\n \n Severe droughts caused water restrictions, affecting more than a million people, from 2014-2016, and more recently in 2020.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe water problem in the San Juan area has been with us for years,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cEvery year it gets worse. It\u2019s draining, a constant state of worry. It is no way to live.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n During a 1994 drought, rationing left the San Juan metro area with water available only every second or third day, according to a 2020 report<\/a> commissioned by the American Society of Civil Engineers. On days when water was available, the pressure in some communities would arrive after midnight and fade by dawn, the report said.\n <\/p>\n \n In 1995, with water service only two or three days a week, Rodriguez purchased and paid to install a 600-gallon cistern for about $1,000. If she were to do it now, she said it would cost her more than twice as much.\n <\/p>\n \n At the time, the island\u2019s water utility responded to the 1994 drought by vowing to end shortages with the $1 billion construction<\/a> of the Superaqueduct and its interconnections, as well as dredging the main source of water for the San Juan area, the Carra\u00edzo reservoir.\n <\/p>\n \n With a capacity of 75 million gallons of water per day, the Superaqueduct went into service in 2000.\n <\/p>\n \n After more than a quarter century of service, the Superaqueduct\u2019s recent breaks exposed a key weakness in Puerto Rico\u2019s water system: The heavy reliance on a single, long-distance transmission line without an equivalent backup during a major interruption requires sustained attention and investment, according to Pesquera.\n <\/p>\n \n He was appointed as a special advisor for water infrastructure after last year\u2019s rupture and prepared a report for the government on improvements to alleviate the island\u2019s water problems.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe Superaqueduct was originally designed as a complimentary water source. Its purpose was to reinforce existing systems and make the metropolitan (San Juan) network stronger, not to replace traditional water sources,\u201d he wrote in his report.\n <\/p>\n \n Gonz\u00e1lez-Col\u00f3n has said at least $7 billion in federal funds had been committed to water infrastructure improvement projects. The lack of maintenance and investment in the water system dates back decades, she said earlier this week, and the destruction of hurricanes Irma<\/a> and Maria<\/a> made matters worse.\n <\/p>\n \n For Smotkin, the water crisis reflects the island\u2019s history of structural neglect and systemic abandonment by both local and federal authorities. The water woes must be seen in the context of Puerto Rico\u2019s dependency on the United States.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe enduring image is of people standing with bottles and jugs, spending their lives trying to obtain something as elementary as water because the infrastructure that should have delivered it had failed them,\u201d said Smotkin, who has lived on the island nearly 25 years and works to bring renewable energy sources to Puerto Rico.\n <\/p>\n \n On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Lourdes Ta\u00f1on, a resident of Trujillo Alto, a municipality southeast of San Juan, was on her way to check the cistern at the home of her mother. Suddenly, it started to rain.\n <\/p>\n \n The driver of another car stopped, putting his hands out the window as if to capture the falling droplets, she recalled.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cGetting wet under the first rain of May is a custom here because it supposedly brings good luck,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople go outside and get wet. That\u2019s what it feels like now when it rains. We\u2019re all praying for more rain.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In 2017, Hurricane Maria struck nine days before the grand opening of Hector Rosa\u2019s restaurant, Rosa Cocina Libre, in San Juan\u2019s Cupey district. The opening was delayed for five months.\n <\/p>\n \n Now he finds himself confronting another crisis, one he believes could have been prevented. His mornings begin by turning on the faucets to see if water is running.\n <\/p>\n \n If there is no water, Rosa scrambles to figure out where to get it and how quickly. The restaurant has a cistern and two additional mobile tanks, with a combined capacity of about 2,000 gallons. He must fill up the three tanks at least once a day to keep the restaurant running. He often questions how much longer he can keep operating in Puerto Rico, Rosa said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI love my island and I love to be here in Puerto Rico,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to be part of the island but it\u2019s like having your hands tied every single year \u2014 every single month it\u2019s something.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The water crisis has become impossible to ignore anywhere Eduardo Caldazo goes.\n <\/p>\n \n At his apartment in Isla Verde, one of the island\u2019s busiest tourist areas, and at his restaurant-bar, Calle Sin Salida in San Juan, there is no warning about when the water will vanish or return.\n <\/p>\n \n He relies on a 400-gallon water tank to keep his restaurant operating four days a week but keeping it filled is a full-time job.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is now our daily life,\u201d he said. \u201cI know it won\u2019t be fixed.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Rafael Cabrera, a 64-year-old university professor, lives in a 30-apartment condominium complex in Monteflores, just south of Machuchal. In 2022, residents raised nearly $100,000 to purchase a pump and cistern to remedy intermittent water service problems. The cistern, which holds nearly 4,000 gallons, went unused until last year, when residents were issued the required water utility permits to activate it, Cabrera said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe hardest part is lacking hope about a problem that seems to have no solution,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Some residents said hope is elusive given the island\u2019s litany of miseries \u2013 from natural disasters to a bankrupt government<\/a> to a financial control board<\/a> that manages funding for infrastructure.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe frustration is understandable, but it is also important to recognize how complex it is to restore a water distribution system after an extended interruption,\u201d Pesquera told CNN when asked about residents\u2019 criticism. \u201cResidents and businesses need the most realistic information possible about when service will actually reach their area.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In Loiza, Pica Qui\u00f1ones\u2019 great-granddaughter, Modesta Irizarry, drives around helping elderly neighbors. She collects water from cistern trucks, distributes donated packs of bottled water and food, and leads water truck drivers to the homes of the bedridden. Almost every day, she makes time to check on her great-grandmother.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI find many older adults alone in subhuman conditions with no one to care for them,\u201d she lamented, her voice fading.\n <\/p>\n \n Irizarry has helped her community in the aftermath of hurricanes, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and other emergencies. The despair over the water crisis, she said, is similar to life after Hurricane Maria.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI wish I had more hands. There are people who, no matter how much they need it, won\u2019t ask for help. They won\u2019t let you in because of shame. The suffering is so great.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Her great-grandmother, meanwhile, spends part of her days filling up her menagerie of bottles and containers.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhenever we have water, I fill every bottle and bucket I can find. I\u2019ve never had to live like this \u2013 not even after the worst storms,\u201d Pica Qui\u00f1ones said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Milagros Pica Qui\u00f1ones\u2019 small concrete home is an untamed menagerie of bottles, paint buckets, bleach and laundry detergent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-874851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Low](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/02-2026-08-12t005131z-1690535363-rc2j9mawg7i2-rtrmadp-3-puerto-rico-weather.JPG\")
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