Residents of Santurce, Puerto Rico, briefly celebrated the restoration of running water before losing service again within less than a day, with no immediate explanation from the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA). Annie Alfaro, a resident of the Las Carmelitas condominium on San Jorge Street, said water returned but was cut again at 8:40 AM. Saturday, leaving her without service again by Sunday.
Fellow resident Jomarie Arturet said her community has gone more than 110 days without water service, forcing elderly people, children, and bedridden residents to carry buckets and buy bottled water for cooking, bathing, and basic needs. Arturet criticized the government for failing to explain the cause of the outage or provide a mitigation plan, calling it "outrageous and unacceptable."
El Nuevo Día said it sought comment from the AAA but received no response. On Saturday, the AAA had announced that its monitoring system detected water pressure increases in Loíza Street, the Luis Lloréns Torres public housing project, Ocean Park, other San Juan areas, and Isla Verde in Carolina, warning some areas could see intermittent service amid ongoing operational improvements.
San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero again criticized AAA’s operational management, saying AAA staff told him restoring service would take about a week following upgrades at the Sergio Cuevas filtration plant in Trujillo Alto, which were completed Wednesday night.