Puerto Rican cities hit with water rationing measures as record dry conditions persist

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico will implement water rationing measures in San Juan and other major cities as a drought grips the U.S. territory with no relief in sight.

More than 180,000 customers will be without water for 48 hours at a time starting Friday as part of an alternating schedule while the U.S. territory scrambles to find a solution to the deepening crisis as extreme heat warnings persist.

“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 and the fourth hottest one 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.

Emanuel Rodríguez, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service, said heavy rains usually arrive by end of August as storms form during the Atlantic hurricane season , but “that doesn’t mean that this year, in particular, that is what is going to happen.”

Experts have predicted a milder 2026 hurricane season.

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.

The governor said she doesn’t know how long the rationing measures will remain in place. Meteorologists have warned dry conditions likely will persist until September.

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.

The drought is worsening, but thousands of Puerto Ricans were already experiencing water shortages up to a year before for unknown reasons.

Among them is 61-year-old community leader Marcia Soler París. She 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.

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