Puerto Rico would need at least 50 water wells to avoid future rationing in the face of climate change and recurring droughts, according to engineer Gregory Morris, a leading U.S. water infrastructure expert who worked on the Superaqueduct and other island projects. Speaking to El Nuevo Día after a Journalism Training Institute presentation on the water crisis, Morris said new wells must be built and others made operational as a large well field used only for drought support.
He said high-yield wells are the only viable short-term option to reach "firm yield," where the system operates efficiently without a rationing plan. The project to rehabilitate five wells in northern Puerto Rico as a secondary supply for the metro area is one Morris recommended to past administrations; it was only now adopted. The wells were previously used by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA) to reinforce Superaqueduct supply but were retired over the years to save maintenance costs.
Carlos I. Pesquera, named by Governor Jenniffer González as special coordinator for Drinking Water Stability, said the program is in its first stage and responds to the summer crisis caused by lack of rain in the Carraízo and La Plata watersheds, which led to rationing. The five wells would add five million gallons in the area.
Pesquera said the government initially identified 12 to 15 wells, and five could be rehabilitated in six months: Dorado Dairy No. 1, Dorado Dairy No. 2, Maguayo No. 2, Campanilla No. 8 and Levittown No. 4. The Health Department ruled out Maguayo No. 2 for health reasons. Pesquera said the next step is to include additional projects in AAA’s capital improvements program, and that reaching 50 wells would require building more.
Morris said AAA’s main problem is the historic loss of 60% of its water, noting leakage is high along rural pipelines and very low in formal neighborhoods. He criticized AAA president Luis González Delgado, who said weeks ago that if that much water were lost, streets would be seas. Morris said new infrastructure won’t prevent rationing unless leaks are fixed, calling unaccounted-for water the primary metric.