Puerto Ricans in San Juan area prepare for 48-hour water ration due to historic drought
TheGrio...
Beginning Friday (Aug, 7), at least 140,000 Puerto Ricans may be impacted by the rationing, as Gov.Jenniffer González says, “This situation is out of our hands.”
After a record-setting drought season in San Juan, Puerto Rican officials are implementing a plan to ration water for more than 100,000 residents in the capital city and its surrounding communities.
The rationing is expected to take place for 48 hours beginning Friday (Aug. 7), with the potential to extend to 72 hours. El Nuevo Día reported that residents originally expected a 24-hour ration, but Public Affairs Secretary Jean Peña Payano explained on Thursday that though this was the original plan, officials determined “that 48 hours was more practical for logistical purposes to be able to distribute and organize water delivery to those areas where, depending on the situation, there will be no water every two days.”
Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González announced Tuesday that communities in the following municipalities will be affected by the ration: San Juan, Loíza, Carolina, Trujillo Alto, Canóvanas, Gurabo, and Juncos, which will impact an estimated 140,000 to 180,000 customers of the Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AAA), or the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, according to El Nuevo Día.
González said, “This situation is out of our hands,” and that “Nothing prevents this from worsening,” per CBS News.
The record-setting drought marked July as San Juan’s driest month since 1899. And, according to González, rainfall in the coming two to three weeks will be 50% below average. In July, parts of the island were classified by the U.S. Drought Monitor as experiencing severe and moderate drought conditions, while the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands received an extreme drought classification (D3) in Saint John and St. Croix.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which used data from this Tuesday, over 25% of Puerto Rico is still experiencing a severe drought (D2), and 32% is experiencing a moderate drought (D1). In San Juan and its neighboring communities, some residents have gone over 100 days without reliable water.
The water crisis also occurs as the Puerto Rican government moves forward with development plans that are strongly opposed by environmentalists. Authorities recently approved a $2 billion luxury development project dubbed Esencia in Cabo Rojo, one that activists argue could threaten the island nation’s wildlife and worsen environmental conditions.
Though the 2,000-acre development, which will include the Mandarin Oriental and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts brands, is advertised as being entirely powered by renewable energy and promises to restore and rehabilitate the coastal area’s natural landscape, critics are not convinced that this will be the outcome of the project, and say that the local community is not being heard.
Braulio Quintero, executive director of the Institute for Socio-Ecological Research in Puerto Rico, told the Associated Press he and others opposed to the plan will continue to “fight this in every forum possible.”
“These are serious threats to our sustainability as a people,” he told the publication.