Puerto Rico gov unveils $10M plan to fix water outages
Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González said her administration is moving quickly to address chronic water service outages in San Juan’s Santurce district and other parts of the island, beginning with leadership changes at the Puerto Rico Aqueduct & Sewer Authority.
On Monday, PRASA’s governing board confirmed it accepted the resignation of San Juan Regional Director Luis Arcenio González Traverso, citing family reasons. Executive Vice President of Operations Luis Josué Ortiz Salgado was appointed interim regional director while the agency interviews candidates for a permanent appointment.
González said she tasked engineer Carlos Pesquera, PRASA’s special coordinator, with recommending structural reforms and technical improvements to stabilize service.
“My goal is to figure out what’s happening — what caused the recent breakdowns, whether they could’ve been prevented, and how vulnerable the system is long term,” Pesquera told News is my Business in August. He worked under a 30-day contract for which he did not charge a fee.
The governor said she will issue an emergency order to fund a $10 million replacement for the aging Los Filtros plant in Guaynabo and replace aging water pipes with larger ones to stabilize service in Bayamón and Guaynabo.
She added that a pipe failure in Cupey — dating back to last year — is still being repaired and that she met with the mayors of Guaynabo and Bayamón to address persistent disruptions tied to the Los Filtros plant.
“As part of those recommendations are changes in management,” González said. “The director of the San Juan region was replaced over the weekend, and further changes will follow based on the report prepared by Pesquera.”
She said the plant can no longer meet demand as the metro area grows and noted that the super aqueduct, which carries water from the north coast to San Juan, is also insufficient.
Proposed improvements include replacing outdated 2-inch pipes with 6-inch steel pipes designed to better withstand water pressure. González said these upgrades are part of a broader infrastructure plan that will be released this week.
“We have a situation with critical infrastructure where years of neglect are catching up to us,” the governor said. “That’s why we’re moving forward with Pesquera’s recommendations and pushing for the approval of more than $4 million in pending federal funds currently tied up in Federal Emergency Management Agency environmental reviews.”
Pesquera visited key facilities — including the Sergio Cuevas Plant, Los Filtros Plant and La Plata River facility — as part of his review of PRASA’s capital improvement plans.
