20-year plan proposed to rehabilitate water infrastructure

By THE STAR STAFF

Rep. Víctor Parés Otero, who chairs the House Government Committee, announced on Monday the filing of a bill that would establish a 20-year program to rehabilitate water infrastructure and reduce system losses to 30% by 2031.

“Just as happened with the electrical infrastructure, Puerto Rico’s water infrastructure -- with the exception of the Superaqueduct -- is obsolete; it never received the required maintenance, and today we are seeing the results of that inaction,” Parés Otero said in a written statement. “The time has come to align the law with the new reality we are living in Puerto Rico in the third decade of the 21st century. The bill focuses on rehabilitating those structures, expanding reservoir capacity, and protecting the integrity of the Southern Aquifer, among other things.” 

Titled the “New Water Law for 21st Century Puerto Rico,” the proposal would designate water service as a public priority and mandate the phased rehabilitation of the distribution system and the Carraízo reservoir infrastructure.

Parés Otero noted that Puerto Rico loses more than half of the water it produces and that the proposed goal is achievable with available technology. The measure would also create new rights-of-way at reservoirs managed by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to facilitate dredging operations from the shorelines.

“With this new law, we aim to reduce that loss to 30 percent over a five-year period -- a realistic goal given the available technology,” the San Juan District 4 lawmaker said.

The bill mandates that major reservoirs, including Carraízo and Toa Alta, be dredged every 15 years. It would also mandate the completion of the El Valenciano reservoir and filtration plant in Juncos no later than 2032.

Other provisions would increase fines for water theft and unauthorized well drilling, in addition to creating a tax incentive for the purchase of residential water cisterns.

During a declared drought emergency, PRASA would be required to submit detailed reports to the Legislature every 30 days regarding the actions taken to mitigate its effects.