The Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced issued Executive Order 2020-049, which declares a state of emergency by drought for all Puerto Rico, assigning as a priority, attention to the regions that are affected by meteorological, agricultural and hydrological drought.
“During the past weeks, we have been facing a period of low precipitation, which, together with the continuous aftershocks that continue to occur due to the earthquake of January 7, 2020 and in the face of the pandemic of coronavirus (COVID-19) attempts against the general welfare, including basic services and the health of our citizens, “said the governor.
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In addition, OE 2020-049 orders the Department of Public Safety (DSP), carry out the inter-agency coordination of executive actions and techniques of planning, mitigation, response and recovery to comprehensively address the declaration of drought emergency, with the advice of various government agencies.
All agencies, their interagency efforts to monitor and coordinate government actions in accordance with the drought event, should use the Protocol for Drought Management in Puerto Rico 2018 as a guide.
Vázquez Garced indicated that, in his most recent report of June 25, 2020, the National Weather Service of the United States, through Drought Monitor, classified 29 municipalities in a period of moderate meteorological drought, and 21 municipalities in a period of severe meteorological drought.
Moderate and severe drought, as defined by said Drought Monitor, involves potential damage to crops, pastures, rivers, reservoirs and wells, and represents a decrease in water and intermittent water levels. Similarly, the Drought Monitor declared 12 municipalities under the category of atypically dry climate.
Interruption of services
These classifications respond to the low levels of precipitation registered and the decrease in the main drinking water reservoirs.
The first executive added that: “During the past two weeks, the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority has been forced to implement service interruption plans in the municipalities of Canóvanas, Loíza, Río Grande and San Lorenzo due to low rainfall Similarly, it is necessary to implement a plan to interrupt water use services for the municipalities that are supplied from the reservoir. Carraízo. These are Canóvanas, Carolina, Gurabo, San Juan and Alto Trujillo. The dramatic decreases in said reservoir, accompanied by the rain deficit, have caused a substantial drop in the water reserve that supplies these municipalities ”.
Drought phases
The drought phases in Puerto Rico are evaluated according to various scientific and technical criteria, including: rain analysis (deviation from normal), meteorological models, the United States Drought Monitor (the “Drought Monitor”), the water flow in rivers, the tendency to drought in some selected basins, the levels of reservoirs, the levels of aquifers with data from observation wells, characterization of drought conditions in protected natural areas, as well as aspects and impacts on forest fires and agricultural activities planting and harvesting crops, availability of food for livestock as well as water to water livestock and cleaning of stables, among others.
Flows of water bodies
According to data from the United States Geological Service, the flows of the surface water bodies in Puerto Rico present conditions lower than the typical historical averages of these bodies of water.
Similarly, according to sentinel piezometers, the water levels of the southern aquifers show negative changes, reflecting a decrease in their levels.
Those monitored in the municipalities of Ponce, Juana Díaz and Santa Isabel are in the observation phase, while in Salinas Rasa-D is in the Operational Adjustment phase and Aguirre is in the Critical phase. There are no glimpses of changes in weather conditions that improve the situation.
Here you can check which reservoir supplies water in your municipality:
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