Puerto Rico's Water Crisis Worsens Amid Stalled Federal Grid Funding

Puerto Rico has been grappling with a severe water shortage since mid‑June, when a leak in the Superaqueduct and additional pipe ruptures left more than 100,000 residents in San Juan, Bayamón, Guaynabo, Caguas, Juncos, Loíza and surrounding areas without drinking water. The National Guard and municipal agencies deployed water‑tanker trucks and set up temporary distribution centers, while price controls were imposed on essential goods. Experts cite decades‑old infrastructure, inadequate maintenance and budget constraints as root causes, and warn that an unusually hot summer could exacerbate the shortage.

At the same time, a Government Accountability Office report shows that of the $14 billion pledged by the U.S. government to rebuild Puerto Rico’s power grid after Hurricane Maria, roughly $10.7 billion remains undisbursed. FEMA has released only a fraction of its allocated funds, completing just nine of 249 vegetation‑clearing projects and a handful of generation and substation upgrades. Delays are attributed to complex federal review processes, legal disputes between the Puerto Rican government and private utility Luma Energy, and a 2024 construction excise tax on federally funded projects. The combined water and electricity challenges affect hundreds of thousands of island residents and underscore persistent infrastructure deficits.