Puerto Rico's Drought Is the Worst in Over a Century. It Won't End Soon.
Puerto Rico's Drought Is the Worst in Over a Century. It Won't End Soon.
July 2026 was the driest month San Juan has recorded in more than 120 years.
Not the driest in recent memory. Not the driest in a decade. The driest in recorded history going back over a century and the drought that caused it isn't going anywhere. The National Weather Service is forecasting it to last through at least the end of the year, possibly into early 2027.
This is not a temporary dry spell. This is the new reality and Puerto Rico's water infrastructure was not built to handle it.
What's Actually Happening on the Ground
The Carraízo Reservoir, the primary water source for the San Juan metropolitan area is at critically low levels. Dead fish have been photographed along its exposed shoreline. Groundwater wells across southern and southeastern Puerto Rico have reached operational adjustment or critical status. Streamflow across the island is at near-record lows.
About 180,000 customers across Puerto Rico's capital San Juan and surrounding municipalities are experiencing water shortages worsened by underinvestment and poor physical maintenance that have left the island's aqueduct and sewer system vulnerable to leaks and failures.
The rotating 48-hour rationing schedule, 48 hours with water, 48 hours without that began August 7 is expected to continue through at least the end of August. A National Weather Service meteorologist says the prolonged dry pattern could continue through the end of the year or into early 2027.
Meanwhile, unionized employees of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority went on strike, stating that they can no longer live on $10.50 per hour. The people keeping what's left of the water system running are walking off the job. The system is failing from every direction at once.
Drought Didn't Break This System. Neglect Did.
The governor has called the drought a natural disaster outside anyone's control. The weather is real. But the vulnerability isn't.
Even before the water crisis, approximately 65% of potable water either did not reach clients due to water leaks or went unbilled. You cannot lose two thirds of your water supply for decades and then blame a drought when the reservoirs run dry.
The Superaqueduct, a large aging pipe system that carries water to the metro area, also ruptured in June, severely reducing water supplies, before the drought even peaked. The drought compounded a system that was already on its knees.
The 2015 drought was a warning that still hasn't fully translated into public policy. Puerto Rico rationed water in 2015. It rationed water in 2020. It's rationing water now in 2026. The drought cycles are getting worse and more frequent. The infrastructure response has been essentially zero.
Who Gets Left Behind
Coverage focuses on San Juan because that's where the press conferences happen. But diminishing surface and groundwater levels have triggered water rationing for agricultural users in the south-central and southwest regions, as well as for residents in parts of the northeast, meaning the crisis extends well beyond the metro area the cameras cover.
Rural Puerto Rico, the campo, has been living water insecurity for years without it making national headlines. Communities in the southeast, the mountains, the towns far from the metro grid and these are families who were already piecing together water access before the Carraízo hit critical levels. They don't have a 48-hour rationing schedule. They just don't have water.
These are the communities EXC International reaches through the Puerto Rico Water Xchange program.
EXC International is coordinating water deliveries to rural families across Puerto Rico who have been left off the official response list. If you want to make sure we can keep showing up — donate below.
The Water Xchange: Direct Delivery, No Waitlist
The government's response is tanker trucks prioritized for hospitals and long-term care facilities. FEMA is sending water trailers. That's triage for the most visible, most documented need.
The families submitting requests through EXC's Water Xchange program are not on those priority lists. They're in rural barrios, on dirt roads, in communities that don't make the news. They submit a request. We coordinate delivery. That's the whole program — direct, simple, no bureaucracy.
If you're in Puerto Rico and need water access, submit a request at excinternational.org/puerto-rico-water-xchange.
If you want to make sure we can keep doing this — especially with a drought forecasted to last into 2027 — this is where your support goes.
EXC International Corporation is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit legally authorized to operate in Puerto Rico, with operations based in Patillas, PR. EIN: 92-3953750. All donations support EXC's missions and projects.