Juan Carlos Dávila reports from Puerto Rico as the island grapples with a severe water crisis. A record-breaking drought has led to severe shortages and a system of water rationing that residents say could have been prevented by better infrastructure maintenance. Climate scientists have warned for years that changing weather conditions in the Caribbean are likely to exacerbate existing infrastructure failings, but rather than address the root cause of the water shortage, explains Dávila, a pattern of government inaction and failed public services is used to justify increasing privatization.
Puerto Rico’s water woes come 10 years after the United States passed the bankruptcy law PROMESA to restructure the U.S. territory’s debt, installing an unelected board colloquially known as “La Junta” that continues to hold sweeping authority to determine fiscal and public policy. “This water crisis taking place right now in Puerto Rico, also La Junta bears some responsibility on it,” says Puerto Rican investigative reporter Luis Valentín. “It did not reduce the debt, and [so] pretty much crowds out resources that could be used for infrastructure work.”
