Puerto Rico to begin water rationing amid shortages and record drought in San Juan

A water crisis in Puerto Rico has reached a fever pitch as the U.S. territory will implement rationing measures amid a drought with no relief in sight. Residents of San Juan and neighboring communities have been without reliable water for more than 100 days.

Starting Friday morning, more than 180,000 customer accounts will be without water for 48 hours at a time as part of an alternating schedule while government officials scramble to find a solution. In addition to affecting parts of San Juan, the rationing will extend to certain neighborhoods in the cities of Carolina, Juncos, Gurabo, Trujillo Alto, Canovanas and Loiza.

Officials have not said when the rationing will end and have warned they could expand to 72 hours at a time.

“This situation is out of our hands,” Gov. Jenniffer González said late Tuesday as she blamed weather conditions. “Nothing prevents this from worsening.”

July was the driest month on record for San Juan in more than 120 years – since 1899 – with just 0.54 inches of rain. It was also the second hottest for the capital. Almost 25% of Puerto Rico is experiencing a severe drought and another 36% is under a moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Experts have predicted a milder 2026 hurricane season, with dry conditions persisting until at least September, said María Novoa García, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Juan.

Rainfall in the next two to three weeks will be at least 50% below average, she added.

“We are seeing that El Niño continues to get stronger,” she said, referencing a natural warming cycle.

Luis González Delgado, president of Puerto Rico’s water and sewer system, said large trucks would distribute potable water, with priority given to hospitals and residences for older people.

Tania Conde Sterling, president of Puerto Rico’s Association of Health Services Administrators, called for calm on Wednesday, saying that hospitals and other health centers are prepared for the rationing.

“We do not improvise at hospitals,” she said. “We have manuals of rules and procedures, as well as protocols for every type of scenario.”

The drought is worsening a crisis that many families have already endured for months with communities in San Juan having documented 118 days this year with repeated water outages. Service has been intermittent and has shut off for full days and multiple days at a time. Residents have also complained about very low pressure.

A 61-year-old community leader, Marcia Soler París, said Wednesday that the rationing measures don’t really mean much because her neighborhood already was experiencing severe water shortages for months.

“It’s chaos,” she said, questioning how Puerto Ricans are supposed to prepare for rationing when they don’t have water now. “It’s truly pitiful.”

She worries most about bedridden and older people who are unable to haul heavy water buckets to their homes and apartments.

The lack of water unrelated to the drought prompted San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero to sue the island’s Water and Sewer Authority in late May, with the governor acknowledging the agency’s infrastructure has lacked investment and maintenance for decades.

More than $7 billion in federal grants and low-interest loans have been awarded for water infrastructure, with hundreds of projects still in development.

Puerto Rico Rep. Domingo J. Torres García warned on Wednesday that he would go to court if he doesn’t receive a response from the water and sewer authority about what’s causing the chronic water problems.

“The people have the right to know what is happening, what the plans are and what concrete actions are being taken to address this crisis,” he said.

Puerto Rico previously implemented rationing measures in 2020 and in 2015, when some 400,000 utility customers received water only every third day.