About 5,500 customers in Lares, Las Marías, Maricao and San Sebastián will begin getting drinking water again around midnight on Wednesday, November 11, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA) said, after the Espino filtration plant in Lares restarted operations. The plant had been out of service since a crane spilled hydraulic oil during scheduled work at the reservoir.
Restart followed negative laboratory test results and the corresponding certification, the AAA said. Cleaning work finished during the night of Tuesday, November 10, and the early hours of Wednesday, after which water samples were sent to the laboratory for analysis. Restoration will be gradual: sectors closest to the distribution point get service first, and more distant communities receive water progressively as the system stabilizes, said Luis Miranda Vega, executive director of the AAA’s Northern Region.
While service is restored, the AAA will continue hauling drinking water in coordination with the affected towns and their emergency management offices. "We expect to begin distribution around midnight to make way for the gradual restoration of service," Miranda Vega said, adding that public health and well-being were the priority throughout. AAA executive president Luis Reinaldo González Delgado thanked agency staff for the cleaning, evaluation and restart work. The AAA will post updates on its social media account, @AcueductosPR, and at www.acueductos.pr.gov.