In Puerto Rico, even when it doesn’t rain, it pours

Milagros Pica Quiñones’ small concrete home is an untamed menagerie of bottles, paint buckets, bleach and laundry detergent jugs.

The 96-year-old grandmother in the impoverished oceanfront town of Loiza, in Puerto Rico’s northeast, sees “the thinnest thread of water” trickling from her faucet most days before service is shut off from 10 p.m. until dawn.

“I drag the buckets away with whatever strength I have and I cover them,” Pica Quiñones said. “Three 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 – 10 large bottles.”

The scramble to find water – collecting it in small vessels and cisterns – is a daily survival routine for hundreds of thousands of other US citizens on the island due to widespread service interruptions. The most vulnerable – the elderly, the sick, low-income people – are forced to bear the heaviest burden.

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 Quiñones, whose showers consist of dipping a red Solo cup into a bucket, thinks about water all the time.

The US territory’s fragile water situation reached a new critical point over the summer – 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.

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.

“When you have a drought colliding with an aging infrastructure, that’s more than a drought. That’s a humanitarian crisis, and it’s a crisis which is deep,” said Northeastern University chemistry professor Eugene Smotkin, who lives in Old San Juan with his wife. “It’s not a drought story.”

Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters

Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón declared a state of emergency July 31 due to the drought. It’s unknown how long the rationing measures will remain in place, she said.

“This is a situation that we never expected to happen,” the Republican governor told CNN earlier this month, referring to the drought.

The US Department of Agriculture approved a drought disaster declaration on the island, allowing farmers and agricultural producers in 26 municipalities to access emergency loans, the governor’s office announced Wednesday.

The governor told MS NOW this week she was “not ruling out” asking Washington for a national emergency declaration, which would unleash massive federal funding for Puerto Rico. Her government, González-Colón said, need to “exhaust all the local assets, all the resources before asking for a national declaration of emergency.”

“I totally understand the frustration,” she said of island residents who blame the government for the longtime water woes, acknowledging a lack of maintenance to the island’s infrastructure.

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.

Most of the island archipelago is experiencing moderate to extreme drought conditions, affecting more than 3 million people, according to the US Drought Monitor.

Lakes and streams – some at or near record lows – are losing water amid a rainfall deficit that could last months, Rodriguez said.

“We could stay below normal (rainfall levels) at least until January,” he added.

The water emergency is also a consequence of the deteriorating infrastructure, particularly a series of recent ruptures in the so-called Superaqueduct , a crucial 72-inch pipeline that carries potable water 50 miles along the northern coast to the densely populated San Juan metro area.

Since the pipeline’s 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’s office.

The governor’s office and the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Carlos Pesquera, a civil engineer and former secretary of transportation and head of public works who was appointed by the governor as an adviser on the water crisis, said the drought “is the immediate trigger” of the current emergency, “but it does not fully explain the vulnerability” of the water system.

“Puerto Rico has aging infrastructure, significant water losses and areas where greater redundancy and resilience are needed,” Pesquera, a member of the pro-statehood governing party, told CNN via email.

Before the recent ruptures , nearly 60% of water treated by the aqueduct and sewer authority was lost mostly due to “inaccurate meters, unauthorized water consumption, or water main leaks,” according to a 2019 report on the island’s infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Hilda Rodríguez, 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 💧 to track on her cell phone the days without water.

This year, the log shows more than 200 days without water.

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.

“I needed to write all this down because no one would believe me,” she said with a laugh. “In Puerto Rico, we make a joke of everything. It’s the best way to survive all the things that happen to us – one way to escape as we keep going.”

This crisis is no joke.

“It’s one stumble after another,” said Rodríguez, who has also been tracking every phone complaint she’s made to the water utility over the years. “Just when you think you’re finally getting back up, something else happens.”

courtesy Hilda E. Rodríguez Jimenes

In another Santurce neighborhood, Anna Andresian and a group of other residents have been keeping an online log of water and power outages since 2024, when 57 days were affected by water outages and 58 days were affected by power outages. So far this year, the log shows, residents have spent more than 140 days with no water and 27 days without electricity.

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.

Severe droughts caused water restrictions, affecting more than a million people, from 2014-2016, and more recently in 2020.

“The water problem in the San Juan area has been with us for years,” Rodriguez said. “Every year it gets worse. It’s draining, a constant state of worry. It is no way to live.”

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 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.

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.

At the time, the island’s water utility responded to the 1994 drought by vowing to end shortages with the $1 billion construction of the Superaqueduct and its interconnections, as well as dredging the main source of water for the San Juan area, the Carraízo reservoir.

Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images

With a capacity of 75 million gallons of water per day, the Superaqueduct went into service in 2000.

After more than a quarter century of service, the Superaqueduct’s recent breaks exposed a key weakness in Puerto Rico’s 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.

He was appointed as a special adviser for water infrastructure after last year’s rupture and prepared a report for the government on improvements to alleviate the island’s water problems.

“The 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,” he wrote in his report.

González-Colón 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 and Maria made matters worse.

Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images

The world has entered a new era of ‘water bankruptcy’ with irreversible consequences

For Smotkin, the water crisis reflects the island’s 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’s dependency on the United States.

“The 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,” said Smotkin, who has lived on the island nearly 25 years and works to bring renewable energy sources to Puerto Rico.

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Lourdes Tañon, 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.

The driver of another car stopped, putting his hands out the window as if to capture the falling droplets, she recalled.

“Getting wet under the first rain of May is a custom here because it supposedly brings good luck,” she said. “People go outside and get wet. That’s what it feels like now when it rains. We’re all praying for more rain.”

In 2017, Hurricane Maria struck nine days before the grand opening of Hector Rosa’s restaurant, Rosa Cocina Libre, in San Juan’s Cupey district. The opening was delayed for five months.

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.

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.

“I love my island and I love to be here in Puerto Rico,” he said. “I want to be part of the island but it’s like having your hands tied every single year — every single month it’s something.”

The water crisis has become impossible to ignore anywhere Eduardo Caldazo goes.

At his apartment in Isla Verde, one of the island’s 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.

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.

“This is now our daily life,” he said. “I know it won’t be fixed.”

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.

“The hardest part is lacking hope about a problem that seems to have no solution,” he said.

Carlos Barria/Reuters

These five cities could be one natural disaster away from a catastrophic water crisis

Some residents said hope is elusive given the island’s litany of miseries – from natural disasters to a bankrupt government to a financial control board that manages funding for infrastructure.

“The frustration is understandable, but it is also important to recognize how complex it is to restore a water distribution system after an extended interruption,” Pesquera told CNN when asked about residents’ criticism. “Residents and businesses need the most realistic information possible about when service will actually reach their area.”

In Loiza, Pica Quiñones’ 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.

“I find many older adults alone in subhuman conditions with no one to care for them,” she lamented, her voice fading.

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.

“I wish I had more hands. There are people who, no matter how much they need it, won’t ask for help. They won’t let you in because of shame. The suffering is so great.”

Her great-grandmother, meanwhile, spends part of her days filling up her menagerie of bottles and containers.

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

Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified the group of Machuchal residents tracking water and power outages. The online log is managed by Anna Andresian in collaboration with other residents.

米拉格罗斯·皮卡·奎尼奥内斯的小型混凝土房屋就像一个杂乱无章的动物园，里面堆满了瓶子、油漆桶、漂白剂和洗衣液罐。

在波多黎各东北部贫困的海滨小镇洛伊萨，一位 96 岁的老奶奶每天晚上 10 点到黎明停水之前，都只能看到“一丝水”从水龙头里缓缓流出。

“我用尽全力把桶拖走，然后盖好，”皮卡·奎尼奥内斯说。“浴室里有三个桶，厨房里有一个，外面有三个两加仑的桶。房子前面有15个小一点的加仑装容器，墙边还有10个大瓶子。”

由于供水中断，岛上数十万美国公民每天都不得不争相寻找水源，用小容器和水箱收集水，以此维持生存。最弱势的群体——老人、病人、低收入人群——被迫承受最沉重的负担。

波多黎各被誉为美丽而充满活力的旅游胜地，但这里却居住着320万美国人，他们每天都在为清洁的自来水等基本生活必需品而苦苦挣扎。皮卡·奎尼奥内斯（Pica Quiñones）的淋浴方式就是用一个红色塑料杯蘸水到水桶里，她无时无刻不在想着水的问题。

今年夏季，美国属地圣胡安脆弱的水资源状况雪上加霜，干旱加剧了这一危机。专家指出，管理不善和基础设施老化（包括缺乏投资和维护）也是造成这一状况恶化的原因。上周五，圣胡安首府及其周边社区的居民已连续三周强制实行限水措施。

居民们被迫忍受长达两天的断水之苦，只能依靠水桶洗澡和干洗香波，用瓶装水做饭和煮咖啡，用纸盘和塑料餐具吃饭，有时甚至不得不放弃洗衣、打扫卫生和冲厕所。而与此同时，他们的水费账单却照常寄来。

“当干旱与老化的基础设施相遇时，这不仅仅是干旱，而是一场人道主义危机，而且是一场根深蒂固的危机，”东北大学化学教授尤金·斯莫特金说道，他和妻子住在老圣胡安。“这不仅仅是干旱的故事。”

路透社/Ricardo Arduengo

波多黎各总督詹妮弗·冈萨雷斯-科隆于7月31日宣布该国进入紧急状态，原因是干旱。她表示，目前尚不清楚配给措施将持续多久。

“这是我们从未预料到的情况，”这位共和党州长本月早些时候告诉 CNN，他指的是干旱。

美国农业部已批准该岛的干旱灾害声明，允许 26 个市镇的农民和农业生产者获得紧急贷款，州长办公室周三宣布了这一消息。

州长本周告诉MS NOW，她“不排除”向华盛顿申请国家紧急状态声明，这将为波多黎各带来巨额联邦资金。冈萨雷斯-科隆表示，她的政府需要“在申请国家紧急状态声明之前，用尽所有地方资源”。

“我完全理解岛上居民的沮丧，”她谈到那些将长期缺水问题归咎于政府的居民时说道，并承认岛上的基础设施缺乏维护。

圣胡安国家气象局水文专家伊曼纽尔·罗德里格斯表示，首都圣胡安7月份经历了120多年来最干旱的月份。

据美国干旱监测机构称，该群岛大部分地区正经历中度至极度干旱，影响超过 300 万人。

罗德里格斯说，由于降雨量不足，一些湖泊和溪流的水位已达到或接近历史最低水平，水位正在下降，这种情况可能会持续数月。

“至少到一月份，降雨量可能都会低于正常水平，”他补充道。

水危机也是基础设施恶化造成的后果，特别是最近所谓的超级输水管道发生的一系列破裂，这条至关重要的 72 英寸管道将饮用水沿着北部海岸输送 50 英里到人口稠密的圣胡安都市区。

据州长办公室称，自 6 月份输油管道破裂以来，波多黎各国民警卫队和全岛各地的政府机构一直在用储水罐车分发饮用水。

总督办公室和波多黎各输水和污水处理局均未回应多次置评请求。

卡洛斯·佩斯奎拉是一位土木工程师，曾任交通部长和公共工程主管，被州长任命为水危机顾问。他表示，干旱是当前紧急情况的“直接导火索”，但“这并不能完全解释”供水系统的脆弱性。

“波多黎各的基础设施老化，水资源严重流失，而且在某些地区需要更高的冗余性和韧性，”支持建州的执政党成员佩斯奎拉通过电子邮件告诉 CNN。

根据美国土木工程师协会 2019 年发布的关于该岛基础设施的报告，在最近的破裂事件发生之前，输水和污水处理机构处理的近 60% 的水都流失了，这主要是由于“水表不准确、未经授权的用水或供水管道泄漏”。

希尔达·罗德里格斯是圣胡安一家非营利组织的58岁执行董事，她一直在记录家中缺水的日子。她的家位于首都圣图尔塞区的蒙特弗洛雷斯社区。五年前，她开始用手机上的水滴表情符号💧来追踪缺水的日子。

今年的记录显示，缺水天数超过 200 天。

2025年有175天。前一年：142天。2023年，100天。2022年，136天。再前一年，22天。

“我必须把这一切都写下来，因为没人会相信我，”她笑着说。“在波多黎各，我们什么都拿来开玩笑。这是我们应对所有遭遇的最好方式——也是我们继续前行的一种逃避方式。”

这场危机绝非儿戏。

“真是祸不单行，”罗德里格斯说道，她多年来一直记录着自己向自来水公司拨打的每一次电话投诉。“你以为自己终于要重新振作起来了，结果又出了什么事。”

希尔达·E·罗德里格斯·希梅内斯友情提供

在圣图尔塞的另一个社区，安娜·安德烈西安和其他一些居民自2024年以来一直在网上记录停水停电情况。2024年，该地区共停水57天，停电58天。记录显示，今年到目前为止，居民们已经超过140天没有水，27天没有电。

包括居住在圣胡安大都会区的 200 多万居民在内的波多黎各人，长期以来饱受严重干旱之苦，而老化的供水系统更是加剧了这一问题。

2014 年至 2016 年以及最近的 2020 年，严重的干旱导致限水，影响了超过一百万人。

罗德里格斯说：“圣胡安地区的水患问题已经困扰我们多年了。而且每年都在恶化。这令人精疲力竭，让人时刻忧心忡忡。这样的生活根本无法忍受。”

根据美国土木工程师协会委托撰写的一份2020年报告，在1994年的旱灾期间，由于实行配给制，圣胡安都会区每隔两三天才能供水一次。报告指出，即使在有水供应的日子里，一些社区的用水压力也会在午夜之后出现，并在黎明时分消退。

1995年，由于每周只有两三天有水供应，罗德里格斯花了大约1000美元购买并安装了一个600加仑的蓄水池。她说，如果现在再做这件事，花费将超过当时的两倍。

当时，为了应对 1994 年的干旱，该岛的水务公司承诺斥资 10 亿美元修建超级输水渠及其连接设施，并疏浚圣胡安地区的主要水源——卡拉伊索水库，以结束缺水状况。

里卡多·阿杜恩戈/法新社/盖蒂图片社

超级输水渠于 2000 年投入使用，日输水能力为 7500 万加仑。

经过超过四分之一世纪的运行，超级输水管道最近的破裂暴露了波多黎各供水系统的一个关键弱点：严重依赖单一的长距离输水线路，而没有在重大中断期间相应的备用线路，这需要持续的关注和投资，佩斯奎拉表示。

去年发生管道破裂后，他被任命为水利基础设施特别顾问，并为政府准备了一份关于改善措施以缓解该岛水资源问题的报告。

他在报告中写道：“超级渡槽最初的设计目的是为了补充水源。它的目的是加强现有系统，使（圣胡安）大都会区的供水网络更加强大，而不是取代传统水源。”

冈萨雷斯-科隆表示，联邦政府已承诺至少投入70亿美元用于水利基础设施改善项目。她本周早些时候指出，供水系统缺乏维护和投资的情况可以追溯到几十年前，而飓风“艾尔玛”和“玛丽亚”的破坏更是雪上加霜。

Yasin Akgul/法新社/盖蒂图片社

世界已进入“水资源破产”的新时代，其后果不可逆转。

在斯莫特金看来，这场水危机反映了波多黎各长期以来遭受的地方和联邦政府的结构性忽视和系统性遗弃。必须将波多黎各的水资源困境置于其对美国的依赖这一背景下看待。

“人们印象最深刻的是，他们拿着瓶子和水罐，终其一生都在努力获取像水这样最基本的东西，因为本应为他们提供水的基础设施却让他们失望了，”斯莫特金说道。他在岛上生活了近 25 年，致力于为波多黎各引进可再生能源。

最近一个星期三的下午，特鲁希略阿尔托市（位于圣胡安东南部）的居民卢尔德·塔尼翁正要去她母亲家查看蓄水池。突然，下起了雨。

她回忆说，另一辆车的司机停了下来，把手伸出窗外，好像要接住落下的水滴。

“五月的第一场雨在这里很常见，据说能带来好运，”她说。“人们会走到户外淋雨。现在下雨的时候就是这种感觉。我们都在祈祷能下更多的雨。”

2017年，飓风玛丽亚袭击了圣胡安市库佩区，距离赫克托·罗萨的餐厅“罗萨自由厨房”（Rosa Cocina Libre）盛大开业仅剩九天。开业因此推迟了五个月。

如今，他又面临着另一场危机，一场他认为原本可以避免的危机。每天早晨，他都会打开水龙头，看看是否有水流出。

如果没有水，罗萨就得赶紧想办法找水，而且要尽快找到。餐厅有一个蓄水池和两个移动水箱，总容量大约2000加仑。他每天至少要给这三个水箱加一次水，才能保证餐厅正常营业。罗萨说，他经常会想，自己还能在波多黎各继续经营多久。

“我爱我的岛屿，我爱待在波多黎各，”他说。“我想成为岛屿的一份子，但感觉就像每年都被束缚着——每个月都有各种各样的事情发生。”

无论爱德华多·卡尔达佐走到哪里，水危机都已变得无法忽视。

在他的公寓里，位于岛上最繁忙的旅游区之一伊斯拉维德，以及他在圣胡安的餐厅酒吧 Calle Sin Salida，都没有任何关于海水何时消失或再次出现的预警。

他依靠一个 400 加仑的水箱来维持餐厅每周四天的运营，但保持水箱满水却是一项全职工作。

“这就是我们现在的日常生活，”他说。“我知道这个问题无法解决。”

64岁的大学教授拉斐尔·卡布雷拉住在蒙特弗洛雷斯一个拥有30套公寓的住宅小区里，该小区位于马丘查尔以南。2022年，居民们筹集了近10万美元，购买了一台水泵和一个蓄水池，以解决间歇性供水问题。卡布雷拉说，这个容量近4000加仑的蓄水池一直闲置，直到去年居民们获得了必要的自来水公司许可证才得以启用。

他说：“最难的是，对一个似乎无解的问题感到绝望。”

卡洛斯·巴里亚/路透社

这五座城市可能距离一场灾难性的水危机仅一步之遥，一场自然灾害就可能将其推入深渊。

一些居民表示，鉴于该岛遭遇的种种不幸——从自然灾害到破产的政府，再到管理基础设施资金的金融控制委员会——希望渺茫。

“居民的沮丧是可以理解的，但同样重要的是要认识到，在长时间中断供水后恢复供水系统有多么复杂，”佩斯奎拉在被问及居民的批评时告诉CNN。“居民和企业需要尽可能真实的信息，了解何时才能真正恢复供水。”

在洛伊萨，皮卡·奎尼奥内斯的曾孙女莫德斯塔·伊里萨里开着车四处帮助年迈的邻居。她从运水车上取水，分发捐赠的瓶装水和食物，并引导运水车司机将水送到卧床不起的老人家中。几乎每天，她都会抽出时间去看望她的曾祖母。

“我发现很多老年人独自生活在非人的环境中，没有人照顾他们，”她叹息道，声音渐渐低了下去。

伊里扎里曾在飓风过后、新冠疫情期间以及其他紧急情况下帮助过她的社区。她说，人们对水危机的绝望与玛丽亚飓风过后的生活相似。

“我真希望自己能多长几只手。有些人，无论多么需要帮助，都不会开口求助。他们因为羞耻而拒绝别人的帮助。他们的苦难太深重了。”

与此同时，她的曾祖母每天都会花一些时间来装满她那琳琅满目的瓶瓶罐罐。

“只要有水，我就会把能找到的所有瓶子和水桶都装满。我以前从未过过这样的生活——即使是最严重的暴风雨之后也没有，”皮卡·奎尼奥内斯说道。

更正：此前报道中错误地指出了追踪停水停电情况的马丘查尔居民团体。该在线日志由安娜·安德烈西安与其他居民合作管理。