Puerto Rican cities hit with water rationing measures during record drought

What the report says

Puerto Rico has announced rotating water rationing in San Juan and several other major cities as a severe drought and extreme heat continue to strain the U.S. territory, Al Jazeera reported on Aug. 5, 2026. The measures are set to begin Friday and will leave more than 180,000 residents without water for 48 hours at a time on a rotating basis. Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez said she does not know how long the restrictions will last and described the situation as being driven by weather conditions.

The affected areas include neighborhoods in Carolina, Juncos, Gurabo, Trujillo Alto, Canovanas and Loiza. Puerto Rico’s water and sewer system said tanker trucks would deliver drinking water, with hospitals and homes for older adults given priority. The report said July was San Juan’s driest month in more than 120 years and its second-hottest July on record, while the US Drought Monitor showed nearly a quarter of the island under severe drought and another 36 percent under moderate drought.

Residents and local officials have also pointed to older infrastructure problems. San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero previously sued the island’s water authority over water shortages unrelated to the drought, and the governor has acknowledged decades of underinvestment and poor maintenance. Al Jazeera noted that some communities were already facing shortages before the rationing announcement, and that Puerto Rico had used similar water restrictions in 2015 and 2020.