An investigation by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) found that Puerto Rico's Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA) has spent over $50 million in contracts with private companies over the past two decades to reduce non-revenue (lost) water, yet the loss rate has remained around 60% since at least 2004. Truenorth Corporation has been the most-favored contractor, receiving more than $34.9 million. Sources tied to AAA, along with engineers and water-management experts, told CPI the failure stems from poor oversight of contractors and insufficient funding to complete later project phases.
Truenorth also failed to meet a 2011 AAA target of cutting water loss to 25%. In 2014, AAA created the Water Recovery Office (ORA), formerly the Non-Revenue Water Management Office, led by executive advisor Arnaldo Colón, who oversees contractors since the office has no AAA staff of its own. Truenorth has run ORA almost entirely since its founding.
Since 2016, Truenorth has received $13.7 million from ORA for pressure management, leak detection, and water production/consumption/loss analysis, with contract values rising from about $227,000 in 2016 to over $1.9 million in 2025. Its latest contract, signed in September, totals $997,170 and expires in January 2027.