Rep. Parés Otero calls on fiscal board to declare water emergency

Rep. Domingo Torres García

Torres García tells PRASA he’ll go to court over withholding of public info amid water crisis

By THE STAR STAFF

Rep. Víctor Parés Otero demanded on Wednesday that the Financial Oversight and Management Board declare a water emergency in Puerto Rico in support of the efforts of Gov. Jenniffer González Colón to address the unprecedented drought and rebuild the island’s stormwater infrastructure.

The chairman of the Government Committee in the island House of Representatives also requested the oversight board’s immediate access to $300 million to mitigate the effects of the historic drought, including the purchase of cisterns.

“In July of last year (2025), we formally requested that the Oversight Board declare a state of emergency in Puerto Rico due to the problems with the water infrastructure after decades without the necessary maintenance,” the San Juan District 4 lawmaker said in a written statement. “Today, we demand that the Board act. They are not only in Puerto Rico to impose spending restrictions, but also to ensure that we have the tools to address the needs of our people quickly.”

Parés added that “July was the driest month in the last 128 years,” and said the allocation is necessary for “urgently repairing leaks, purchasing equipment, acquiring cisterns for schools and shelters, transporting drinking water, and even cloud seeding, a measure we are promoting, among other things.”

“Like the electrical infrastructure, the water network in Puerto Rico is obsolete and outdated, failing to meet the needs of the third decade of the 21st century,” he said. “The average age of a pipe on the island is over 73 years, while in the continental states the average does not exceed 12.”

Also on Wednesday, Rep. Domingo Torres García, the Popular Democratic Party alternate minority leader in the House, warned that he will go to court if the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) persists in refusing to hand over public information about the worsening drinking water crisis.

In a letter addressed to PRASA Executive President Luis R. González Delgado, Torres García rejected the public corporation’s decision not to comply with an information request submitted on July 15. The legislator said the agency’s refusal violates Law No. 141-2019, known as the Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information Act.

“If PRASA continues to ignore a law that recognizes access to public information as a fundamental right of every citizen, we will be forced to take this matter to court,” Torres García said. “The people have the right to know what is happening, what the plans are, and what concrete actions are being taken to address this crisis.”