Drought worsens in Puerto Rico; government extends severe water restrictions

Fox News ^ | 08/05/2015

[cll]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A deepening drought in Puerto Rico has forced the government to extend severe water rationing measures to more communities. A total of nearly 400,000 customers now receive water every third day as the U.S. territory's main reservoirs continue to shrink. Nearly 13 percent of Puerto Rico is under an extreme drought and another 39 percent under a severe one. The National Drought Mitigation Center said a total of 2.5 million people have been affected. The newest rationing measures went into effect Wednesday. The drought has forced some businesses to temporarily close as Puerto Rico struggles to emerge from a nearly decade-long economic slump. Other Caribbean islands also are struggling with a drought, including Jamaica, St. Lucia and the Dominican Republic.

[cll]

I'm one of those customers on the 3 days off/1 day on water rationing plan. Thankfully, we still have our water collection and storage infrastructure we installed during the 1994 drought in place and in working order. We have a 400 gallon potable water tank with a pressurizer and pump which automatically kick in when the city water goes. We also have several rain barrels to collect water for irrigation when it does rain.

[cll]

Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.

[Ghost of SVR4]

Good for you (seriously); however not something I would want to be talking about “in the open” (whether behind an anon screen name or not)..best of luck/

[Texas Eagle]

How are the golf courses faring?

[2banana]

Billions in debt for pensions and buying democrat votes (to the point of bankruptcy)

Not one dollar for water infrastructure.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I can’t imagine PR in a drought.
The island looked lush and green when we visited a couple years ago.

[MaxMax]

I just checked the map, and yep Puerto Rico is still surrounded by water.
Isn't there a place for a desalination plant? I don't understand how this is happening.

[WakeUpAndVote]

Look at California. There’s your answer.

[chopperman]

Isn't there a place for a desalination plant?

You know the answer for that. The same kind of people running P.R. are also running California. And the construction of such a public necessity is a great job provider. Duh.

[cll]

It still is. The western part of the island has been spared from the drought. In fact, it is raining more than usual in the west/interior. The problem is in the eastern part. The San Juan Metropolitan area, where most people live, gets their water from two main reservoirs, and it is not raining much in the basins for those. The only relief we have is that after the ‘94 drought, an aqueduct was built to move water from the western part of the island over to our side. That project is only partially completed though, and there are many residents yet to be interconnected to that system.

[cll]

Only the tees and the greens are allowed to be watered.

[cll]

Desalinization is a high energy consuming process, and our electricity costs here are real high, which makes it not cost-effective. Puerto Rico has plenty of fresh water resources. Only 1/5 of which is tapped. The rest sits in underground systems or runs off into the ocean. The problem is that we have the one government-run water company, and it is grossly inefficient.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I recall large swaths of mostly empty space on the western side. Then some jungle like areas, a giant cave and the big radio telescope.

[MaxMax]

Scary, and I had no idea PR was liberal.