Water Infrastructure Crisis and Contamination

Puerto Rico's water infrastructure represents another dimension of colonial neglect, with the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) consistently ranking among the worst water utilities in the United States.

Safe Drinking Water Act Violations: PRASA has been under a consent decree with the EPA since 2006 for violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act. Issues include:
- Water loss rates of 50-60% due to leaking infrastructure (compared to the U.S. average of 16%)
- Turbidity violations affecting hundreds of thousands of customers
- Bacterial contamination in some distribution systems
- Inadequate treatment at numerous facilities
- Hundreds of communities relying on unregulated, informal water systems ("non-PRASA" systems)

Non-PRASA Communities: Approximately 240 rural communities across Puerto Rico — serving about 200,000 people — rely on informal water systems that are not regulated by PRASA or the EPA. These community-managed systems often draw from surface water sources and may not meet federal water quality standards.

Hurricane María Impact: Hurricane María devastated the water system:
- 95% of customers lost water service
- Some communities went months without running water
- Contamination of surface water sources forced reliance on emergency supplies
- The disaster revealed the chronic underinvestment in water infrastructure

Fiscal Austerity: The fiscal control board has required PRASA to raise rates and reduce operational costs, making it more difficult to invest in infrastructure repair. The utility's $5.5 billion debt further constrains its ability to improve service.

The water crisis is a direct product of colonial governance: a territory that cannot levy adequate taxes, cannot access municipal bond markets on favorable terms, and cannot make its own fiscal decisions is structurally unable to maintain basic infrastructure.