In Rural Puerto Rico, Water Systems Depend on Volunteers—and Threatened Federal Grants

Across the archipelago, community leaders and academic partners are collaborating to bridge funding gaps and ensure disconnected residents maintain water access as storms grow stronger.

In Puerto Rico’s most rural municipalities, residents are often not connected to the main water system. The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) owns and operates 95 percent of the public water supply and wastewater systems in the archipelago, but rural residents must rely on smaller aqueduct systems for their potable water. 

Unpaid community members often volunteer to maintain these smaller systems, doing the work out of passion and care for their neighbors despite having far fewer financial resources than PRASA. But when federal funding that helps communities maintain their water systems is cut, the way that individuals are able to maintain these systems is impacted. Weather patterns attributable to climate change, such as more frequent and powerful storms, exacerbate this issue. 

“All the funds allocated to the aqueducts are federal funds, and they’re the first to be cut. So it limits us,” said Miriam Matos Díaz, 49, president of the Non-PRASA Aqueduct Systems Organization (OSAN) of Puerto Rico, a nonprofit organization and network of small water systems that are not connected to PRASA. 

“We want to be able to provide more services to the water supply systems and their communities. We can still do that. We’re still working, [but] we’re using our own resources,” she said. “At PRASA, they have billions of dollars. We do wonders with $500. We buy paint for the aqueduct, we buy chlorine tablets for water purification. We keep working.” 

Matos has worked on water system maintenance for nine years, and understands how a lack of funding and support from the governments of Puerto Rico and the United States impacts the quality of water she and many other Puerto Ricans drink. She said authorities and agencies often leave small communities to figure out the funding and maintenance of water systems on their own. 

Building Awareness Amid Outages

Matos and her fellow volunteers most recently encountered funding cuts earlier this year, when the Trump administration froze a number of climate grants that had previously been approved by the Biden administration under the Inflation Reduction Act. 

OSAN was collaborating with Atma Connect, a nonprofit organization that helps foster technological solutions for communities in Puerto Rico and across the globe, to develop community outreach programs. One such initiative was a circus theater, developed in partnership with Fundación Corazón Elástico, a nonprofit organization that combines circus theater and performance art to raise awareness for social issues in Puerto Rico, that would educate residents about water contamination issues. 

In 2023, Atma received $500,000 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded it a grant under the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem Solving grant for Alianza Para las Aguas Limpias, or “Safe Water Quality Networks.” However, those funds were frozen in January, and then abruptly terminated in March. Without funding, OSAN could no longer work with Atma.

During Hurricane Maria, Matos said, Caguas was in the eye of the storm. Its violent winds and rain cleared most of the trees from the area and residents went months without power.

“We were the first to receive help [after Hurricane Maria], and it was a blessing that came to us,” she said. When water companies trying to provide hurricane relief asked Matos if there was an organization that oversaw all the systems, she realized there wasn’t one, prompting her to create OSAN. 

“We don’t have the money to improve infrastructure,” she said. “What we provide is support. We accompany, we educate.” 

The initiatives started in earnest following Maria, when many existing non-PRASA systems were altered so that they are powered by solar energy and still function during power outages. This is especially important in rural communities, where severe storms can wipe out connections to the main power grid. 

The Buenos Aires system Matos maintains is powered by solar panels that charge batteries as well as a generator, so if and when power is lost, residents still have water.

“We have 48 solar panels, six Tesla batteries, and we are completely disconnected from the authorities,” Matos said. 

 

The system in Buenos Aires is similar to other non-PRASA systems, according to Eva Rodriguez, the secretary of OSAN. It is a groundwater system and draws up water from 500 feet underground. 

The groundwater system has two components: a well that draws water from underground using a motor; and a tank, which is located approximately 1,000 feet from the well but at a higher elevation. 

The water is sent uphill through an underground pipe to a 12,000-gallon tank, where it is purified and stored. Gravity brings the purified water down to the houses that it services. Electricity is only needed to power the motor that extracts the water from the ground and sends it to the tank. 

Scraping the Surface

Without the anticipated federal funding, Matos is continuing the work that OSAN has been doing for years. But now, she is reinventing the way her organization works. In addition to maintaining the existing systems in her community, Matos is trying to bring new technology that could potentially change how many non-PRASA residents get their water. 

Part of that reinvention is a collaboration between OSAN and multiple universities to bring a pilot system to Puerto Rico that would use surface water instead of ground water. Surface water systems require less energy and less maintenance, making it easier and less costly for small communities to maintain. 

The AguaClara prefabricated water treatment system is designed to purify surface water and surface water under the influence of groundwater, which means that the surface water and groundwater are mixed.

That drinking water treatment system was developed by the research program AguaClara Reach, in partnership with the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. Cornell researchers partnered with Syracuse University’s EPA Region 2 Finance Center and Institute of Sustainable Engagement (ISE) and the Center of Environmental Education and Conservation (CECIA) at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico to develop a program that would bring this technology to rural Puerto Rican communities. 

The pilot project, called VersaWater, was funded by a $650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and is part of NSF’s Convergence Accelerator program. The team will initiate phase two of their project this year, and plans to install a small surface water treatment system in a Puerto Rican community by fall of 2026. 

As part of phase one of the VersaWater project, researchers at Cornell and Syracuse partnered with leaders in non-PRASA communities, including Matos, to conduct preliminary planning on how to integrate university plans for the system into real communities. 

“A big challenge with implementing or improving a water system is that even if you find the funds to to build the new treatment, or to upgrade the distribution system, the community being able to support it and [understand] it is quite difficult,” said Alexandra Everheart Gearing, a project manager for VersaWater at Cornell University. 

“That’s why you need to find a technology that is [easy] to support financially and operationally … and that is as least expensive as possible to maintain and operate,” she said. She added that having a system like this is especially important as Puerto Rico is experiencing more frequent storms due to climate change, which lead to more water sources mixing and becoming contaminated. 

VersaWater’s AguaClara system, Gearing explained, draws water from sources above ground or underground, such as excess water from bodies of water or flood waters after large storms, instead of deep underground, which a groundwater system does. In phase two of the project, researchers will work to determine how to implement this multi-source system.

AguaClara has already successfully established surface water plants in communities in Honduras, and the team has 25 operational water treatment plants throughout Central America and India. The team also hopes to expand into underserved communities in the continental U.S. as well, Gearing said. 

The VersaWater project would bring them to Puerto Rico through a prefabricated system that is designed by AguaClara and manufactured elsewhere—in this case, Honduras—then transported to Puerto Rico and assembled. The prefabricated model would mean less work for communities, making the treatment technology even more accessible, Gearing said, as they won’t have to manufacture or fabricate the system.

The NSF grant that funded the project was also frozen by the Trump administration this year, which delayed the initial February start date. However, the VersaWater team was recently notified that they would receive $5 million in funding from the NSF to launch phase two of the pilot program. Gearing said that although administrative details for the grant are still being worked out, she is confident that phase two will kick off this month. 

Phase two, which would last three years, involves working extensively with community members to integrate the systems and technology, Gearing said. Education is a priority for the program, as is helping communities apply for federal grant funding through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund that they otherwise would not have the capacity to apply for. This will make them less reliant on help from nonprofits to maintain their systems, aligning with Matos’ missions at OSAN. 

Phase two would consist of three pilot systems, prioritizing fabrication, water sampling, testing and design, operator training, system technology, funding and community engagement. 

“Puerto Rico is subject to all of the same [SDWA] regulations that the states are subject to, but in my opinion, it has less support and less resources to meet all of those regulations,” Gearing said. “The education and training is really helpful for reviewing what [regulations] their water system should be meeting, and what they have to be doing [to meet them].” 

These regulations—especially for operator training and site maintenance—aren’t always feasible for communities with populations of less than 10,000 people. 

Ruth Richardson, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell and the co-founder of VersaWater, said the lack of staffing of these systems is one of the main reasons why systems fail to meet regulations. 

“Personnel is such a big cost for these systems. It’s a big drain on people’s capacity,” she said, adding that it costs money and time to have an operator on site. “So right now the situation on the ground is, [communities] just don’t do that. Therefore, they are out of compliance in that way,” which she said could lead to fines from the EPA for failing to meet regulations. 

This, she said, creates a “Catch-22,” as communities do not have the funds to pay for operators, therefore they do not meet the SDWA regulations and receive fines from the EPA, which they are also unable to pay. 

Richardson said another main goal of VersaWater is to give communities sustainable technology that they can continue to use and understand, to “build the capacity into the communities to understand the value of the water systems.” 

To achieve this, the VersaWater team worked with Kaira Fuentes, a member of the VersaWater team at Syracuse, who helped researchers connect with communities on the ground. Fuentes grew up in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, and now travels between there and New York, as she continues her research. 

Fuentes focused on connecting non-PRASA residents in Puerto Rico with VersaWater team members in a way that prioritized trust and consistency, which she said “many communities don’t get” from organizations based in the continental U.S.

“You need to gain their trust,” Fuentes said. Part of her job included calling community members personally, connecting with them on social media and inviting them to events that promote awareness of water issues and connectivity, often using complimentary food and music to motivate people to attend. 

For example, EFC held an event in 2023 for women in aqueduct communities in Cayey, a mountainous community in central Puerto Rico. Fuentes said that, to her knowledge, this event was the first of its kind to be held. 

She said this ties into the broader notion that introducing the pilot surface water system goes beyond just showing up and giving people new technology. In order for it to be sustainable, people need to understand how to use it and how it benefits them. 

“We saw that there was a gap in what the communities needed and what they were receiving, so we started providing more social skills training like governance, capacity building and identifying what the root cause of the problems are,” Fuentes said. “We provide trainings like how to find the root cause [of an issue] and how to make a root cause analysis in order to find the real problem.” 

She also is hoping to integrate more artistic exhibits and dialogues during phase two, including a potential mural that would be painted by local community artists in Caguas and a theater show or musical about water purification, although both of those plans are still in early stages. 

Fuentes said that despite the challenges that come with properly integrating the VersaWater technology, she has faith in the mission of AguaClara. She spoke highly of working with Matos, commending her connections, perseverance and knowledge that helped them complete their research throughout phase one. 

“Miriam is a good example of women in community aqueducts doing their best to provide water for the community. She’s consistently working and she participates in everything, and she invites the community, the members of her organization and members of other organizations into joining her,” Fuentes said. “She goes everywhere. She talks to everyone, and she’s very just transparent when she talks about the needs of the community.”

For Matos, water quality is a lifelong pursuit. She recalls learning about water pollution and climate change at school growing up, a message she has taken with her throughout her adult life as she continues to ensure the safety of her community through her work. 

“They say that the next wars won’t be over oil or over money, but for the most essential things: water and food,” Matos said. “My goal is to educate, accompany, work together and elevate community aqueducts to a level of compliance so that they can empower themselves with their own resources, and not allow any agency or government to come to manage them.”

Cover photo:  Water pipes lead to the Buenos Aires Community Aqueduct, a small system in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Credit: Sarah Mattalian