Drought and aging infrastructure plunge Puerto Rico into a water crisis

Amna Nawaz:

Puerto Rico is facing yet another crisis. Starting today, major cities are rationing water for residents due to severe drought conditions.

Our Deema Zein tells us more.

Deema Zein:

Amna, for rotating 48-hour periods, the water will be shut off across the island, further disrupting daily life for residents and raising concerns about potential public health issues, prompting the governor to issue a plea asking to use water wisely.

Gov. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R), Puerto Rico (through interpreter):

Sometimes, we're showering and we leave the water running and we wash our hair and leave the water running. Let's shut it off when we're washing and then turn it back on to rinse off. That can be the difference in reducing water consumption. Same thing when we wash dishes or do laundry.

Deema Zein:

This crisis is also exposing the island's aging water infrastructure and lack of immediate government action, leaving many frustrated.

For more on how families are coping and what officials are saying, I'm joined by Laura Perez Sanchez, an independent investigative reporter who collaborates with The New York Times and lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Laura N. Perez Sanchez, Investigative Reporter:

Thank you.

Deema Zein:

I want to just jump right in. Can you explain where you are and what the conditions are like right now?

Laura N. Perez Sanchez:

Well, I'm in San Juan.

And the conditions, I would say I have water right now, but I'm supposed to be part of the rationing system. And starting on Sunday, I should not have it, but I don't know if that's going to happen. Right now, what is happening is that people are a little -- feel frustrated because, even with the rationing system, things are not going as planned.

People who are supposed to not have water this morning have it. And there's communities that haven't had water for a long time now, and people are just bracing for what seems to be coming and seems to be a very hard time that's going to come to us.

Deema Zein:

So what I hear you saying is there seems to be a little bit of confusion about who is supposed to get water when. And my question then to you is, do residents feel that right now authorities are communicating clearly about the situation and about the water?

Laura N. Perez Sanchez:

Well, I would say that that's the main issue right now.

There's communities in San Juan and in other places in the Big Island of Puerto Rico that haven't had water for a long time, even more than a year. And there has been a lack of communication, a lack of clear information to understand why that was happening.

And, right now, the way the government explained the program, the rationing program, was confusing. It is confusing how it is starting to be implemented. And I feel like, for an emergency that has many, many explanations and reasons, to not be able to understand what's going to come, what's going to happen is becoming very, very frustrating for people on the ground.

Deema Zein:

And I want to ask. The island has been dealing with water shortage issues and power outages for quite some time, but talking about this new problem, how much of it is because of the drought conditions or the water infrastructure?

Laura N. Perez Sanchez:

Well, experts say that it's because of the lack of maintenance and upkeeping in the water infrastructure.

I have talked to experts who have told me that our water system loses close to 60 percent of the water that is in it, so it doesn't get to customers. And, for example, the reservoir that is right now where they are -- where they are implementing the rationing, they extract 90 million gallons a day on a regular day on average, and they end up taking to the system and getting into the system 65 million gallons.

So there's a big loss there of water that they don't know where it's happening. I think that that's also the reason why people are so frustrated because it feels that we should not be in this position, even though there's a drought, and that is true that it is happening and it's been affecting us since maybe May. I really miss hearing the sound of the rain.

Deema Zein:

Is there any end in sight? Will continuous, flowing water be available to the island any time soon, in your opinion?

Laura N. Perez Sanchez:

Talking to experts, it's frustrating, because they explain how this is the result of a lack of management and maintenance of our infrastructure, but there's also hope in talking to them, because they always refer to our underground water resources and reservoirs. The aquifer is how we call them.

And I know that there's water there and that, if we manage our resource better, we should not run out of water, or at least not as soon as it seems that we could. But going back to your question, there has been -- meteorologists have been saying and other experts in climate saying the severe Nino hasn't started yet, and that maybe we're going to -- this dry conditions are going to last all the way to the end of the year.

I'm being hopeful that there's a -- like I said before, like a little miracle storm that's going to save us from this.

Deema Zein:

Laura Perez Sanchez, thank you so much for joining us.

Laura N. Perez Sanchez:

Thank you.