Puerto Rico Water Crisis Leaves Residents Without Running Water

Milagros Pica Quiñones’ small concrete home in Loiza, Puerto Rico, is filled with bottles, buckets and containers used to collect and store water.

The 96-year-old grandmother says only a thin stream of water typically comes from her faucet before service is shut off from 10 p.m. until dawn.

Pica Quiñones is among hundreds of thousands of people across Puerto Rico dealing with widespread water service interruptions. The burden is especially difficult for older residents, people with health problems and low-income households.

The water crisis reached a new critical point this summer as drought conditions combined with aging infrastructure and what experts describe as years of inadequate maintenance and investment.

Residents in San Juan and nearby communities have been under mandatory water rationing schedules for weeks, sometimes going as long as two days without running water. Many have been forced to rely on bucket baths, bottled water for cooking, paper plates and plastic utensils, and even skip laundry, cleaning and toilet flushing.

“When you have a drought colliding with an aging infrastructure, that’s more than a drought. That’s a humanitarian crisis,” said Eugene Smotkin, a Northeastern University chemistry professor who lives in Old San Juan.

Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón declared a state of emergency over the drought on July 31.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also approved a drought disaster declaration covering farmers and agricultural producers in 26 municipalities, allowing them to seek emergency loans.

Officials say the drought is only part of the problem.

San Juan experienced its driest July on record in more than 120 years, according to Emanuel Rodriguez, a National Weather Service hydrologist. Most of Puerto Rico is experiencing moderate to extreme drought conditions, and below-normal rainfall could continue into early next year.

The island’s aging water infrastructure has made the situation worse. One major vulnerability is the Superaqueduct, a massive pipeline that carries treated water along Puerto Rico’s northern coast to the San Juan metropolitan area.

The pipeline experienced a major rupture in June. Since then, the Puerto Rico National Guard and government agencies have distributed drinking water using tanker trucks.

Carlos Pesquera, a civil engineer and former public works official who advises the governor, said drought is the immediate trigger for the crisis but does not fully explain the water system’s vulnerability.

Puerto Rico has also struggled with significant water losses. A 2019 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that nearly 60% of water treated by the island’s water authority was lost, largely because of inaccurate meters, unauthorized consumption and leaking water mains.

For some residents, interruptions have been occurring for years.

Hilda Rodríguez, a San Juan nonprofit executive, has kept a record of days without water at her home for five years. Her log shows more than 200 waterless days so far this year, compared with 175 in 2025.

She said she began keeping the record because she worried people would not believe how frequently the water supply disappeared.

Residents have dealt with similar crises during previous droughts. Water restrictions affected more than a million people between 2014 and 2016 and again in 2020.

Businesses are also feeling the impact.

Restaurant owner Hector Rosa said he relies on a cistern and two mobile tanks holding about 2,000 gallons combined. He has to refill them at least once a day to keep his restaurant operating.

“This is now our daily life,” said Rafael Cabrera, a university professor who lives in a San Juan condominium complex that invested nearly $100,000 in a pump and cistern system to address unreliable water service.

In Loiza, community members are helping elderly residents collect water and distribute bottled supplies.

Pica Quiñones' great-granddaughter, Modesta Irizarry, regularly checks on her and helps other older residents who are struggling without reliable water.

“I find many older adults alone in subhuman conditions with no one to care for them,” Irizarry said.

For Pica Quiñones, storing water has become part of everyday life.

“Whenever we have water, I fill every bottle and bucket I can find,” she said. “I’ve never had to live like this – not even after the worst storms.”