Puerto Rico Is Running Out of Water. They Just Approved a $2 Billion Resort That Needs 1.25 Million Gallons a Day.
While Puerto Rico is rationing water.
While the National Guard is trucking water to families in San Juan.
While 310,000+ people just lost power because the grid can't handle what's already on it.
The Puerto Rican government just approved Proyecto Esencia a $2 billion luxury megadevelopment in Cabo Rojo and announced construction will begin later this year.
Let that sink in.
What Is Proyecto Esencia?
Esencia is a proposed $2 billion tourist and residential development on approximately 2,000 acres in the Los Pozos sector, facing Boquerón Bay in Cabo Rojo. If built, it would be one of the largest private communities in the Caribbean.
The developers are Reuben Brothers a London-based investment firm founded by Jamie and David Reuben, one of the wealthiest families in the United Kingdom and Three Rules Capital. The legal entity behind the project is Cabo Rojo Land Acquisition LLC. JPMorgan Chase appears as financial support for the project.
The announced numbers: 500 hotel rooms, 1,200 residences, and more than 17,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs. It will include luxury hotels operated by Rosewood, Mandarin Oriental, and Aman Group, golf courses, a private airport, and a marina.
And it will need water. A lot of it.
The Water Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About
Esencia would place additional strain on water supplies, consuming more than 1.25 million gallons per day, a volume equal to more than a third of current consumption in the entire Cabo Rojo municipality.
That's the low estimate. That figure does not include the project's two golf courses, which would increase water consumption to approximately 2 million gallons per day.
Some experts put the number even higher. Experts estimate that Proyecto Esencia could use up to 3 million gallons daily, especially if golf courses are included.
And here's the part the government doesn't have an answer for: the development would require extraction from aquifers or connection to the existing drinking water system, but neither of these options are feasible.
Puerto Rico's southwestern region sits on top of a karst aquifer system, a network of underground freshwater sources that communities have depended on for generations. The Puerto Rico Senate approved two investigative resolutions specifically to examine the capacity of Cabo Rojo's water system and whether the aquifers of the region could actually support Esencia's water demands. The Senate asked the question. Nobody has answered it. Construction is starting anyway.
Meanwhile, the island is already under formal water rationing. The National Guard is distributing water. Families in San Juan have gone three months without reliable water service. And Puerto Rico's own environmental agency the DRNA rejected Esencia's Environmental Impact Assessment in September 2025.
OGPe overruled the DRNA and approved the EIA in December 2025, with 46 conditions the developers must meet. The developers announced construction is moving forward anyway.
Who's Paying for This and Who Isn't
On August 20, 2024, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company granted Esencia $497.6 million in tax credits, one of the largest tourism incentive awards in the island's history.
Nearly half a billion dollars in tax breaks. For a $2 billion luxury resort. Funded by one of the wealthiest families in the United Kingdom. During a water crisis.
The same government that couldn't fund repairs to a water pump in eastern San Juan for six months found half a billion dollars in tax credits for a Mandarin Oriental resort.
What This Means for Actual Puerto Ricans
The Centro de Periodismo Investigativo documented in March 2026 that Esencia would worsen access to affordable housing in Cabo Rojo. Land and property prices in surrounding areas would increase, displacing local residents who already face cost-of-living pressure.
The companies behind Esencia have a documented global track record. Their development in Los Cabos, Mexico cut off natural water flow to wetlands, mangroves, and aquifers. In that region, local residents may wait seven to 22 days between water deliveries while hotels and luxury homes enjoy a steady supply from desalination plants and private wells.
That's not a hypothetical future for Puerto Rico. That's a preview.
Local fishers in Cabo Rojo have raised alarms about oyster beds and disruption to freshwater and saltwater flows in Boquerón Bay. Mangroves that have protected the coastline for centuries sit directly in the path of this development. Geologists raised concerns during public hearings about possible caverns and geological faults beneath the proposed construction site, building massive structures on fragile soil risks sinkholes, cracks, and future disasters.
The Pattern Is the Point
This is not a story about one bad development. This is a story about who Puerto Rico's government works for.
The grid fails, LUMA gets its contract renewed. The water system crumbles, PRASA holds a press conference. A karst aquifer system that supplies water to 400,000 people sits under a proposed luxury resort, the government hands out $497 million in tax credits.
Every time there's a crisis in Puerto Rico, the same question has the same answer: the people absorb the cost, and outside capital absorbs the benefit.
Esencia is that pattern at $2 billion scale.
What EXC Is Doing About It
EXC International doesn't build golf courses.
We work in rural Puerto Rico “El Campo”, with families who have never had reliable water access and who aren't waiting for PRASA, LUMA, or a London investment firm to decide their future. We deliver water to those who need it and have no where to turn.
While the government approves another luxury megaproject for billionaires.
That's the work. If you want to support it:
EXC International Corporation is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit legally authorized to operate in Puerto Rico, with operations based in PR. EIN: 92-3953750. All donations support EXC's missions and projects.