00:00In Puerto Rico, droughts and low water pressure have forced water supplies to be rationed for more than 180,000
00:06people in the San Juan area.
00:07Water is going to be shut off for customers of the public utility company Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority
00:12for 48 hours, officials said.
00:14And rationing would rotate to other areas in the coming days.
00:16For more, we are joined by President Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Representative Pablo Jose Hernandez.
00:20Representative, thank you very much for being here.
00:23And I want to just start with a basic question here, which is, give us a sense of how bad
00:27things are.
00:28I know that Puerto Rico went through this in 2015.
00:29In 2020, there were droughts and there was rationing as a result of that.
00:33How different is it this time around?
00:36It's worse because the problem started many months ago despite there not being a drought.
00:43So this is really a worsening of a problem that we've had since earlier this summer.
00:48I was reading in the New York Times this morning.
00:50They quoted a leading water management expert in Puerto Rico who says that 60 percent of the water in the
00:57island system never makes it to customers.
01:00Does that sound accurate?
01:01And how did we get here?
01:03I've been hearing that statistic for a long time.
01:06And that's why I'm saying the problems we have right now are that we have two droughts.
01:10We have a drought due to lack of water and rainfall.
01:13But we also have a drought of good management and competence.
01:17We've had this problem for decades.
01:18We've had the same political party in power for the last 10 years.
01:22In 10 years, you can get a lot done.
01:23You could fix a problem or you could certainly make it a lot better.
01:26And none of that has happened.
01:28Pablo, I have to ask because I've been speaking with family members on the island.
01:31I remember visiting the island back after Hurricane Maria.
01:34And it seems like this is an infrastructure issue.
01:38So what is being done?
01:41And can anything be done at this point to fix the issue?
01:44Is there a solution?
01:46Very little has been done.
01:48Yesterday, it was revealed that there are hundreds of capital projects and investments
01:53that haven't been put into effect.
01:55I think it's mostly a management challenge.
01:59So we recently had a change of government within the same party after our primary.
02:04And the new government just fired almost everyone from the prior administration, regardless
02:09of competence, regardless of merit.
02:11And the new people just don't know what they're doing.
02:14And that's a serious problem.
02:16And I think we are living the consequences of that.
02:19A lot of experts are saying this isn't just the drought that's provoking the rationing.
02:24It's also a serious problem of mismanagement.
02:27Let me pick up on that.
02:29So the new governor is Jennifer Gonzalez-Colon.
02:30And I wonder sort of how you would assess the quality of the relationship that she has
02:34with you and with the federal government more broadly.
02:37Is that something else that also needs kind of reconstructive work?
02:41Well, look, we're from different parties, but we have a cordial relationship.
02:44I feel comfortable picking up the phone and calling her.
02:47We work together on many issues like securing access to Medicaid for Puerto Rico or securing
02:52access to SNAP benefits.
02:54But on this issue, I think what she needs to do now is to request the president of the
02:59United States to declare a federal emergency.
03:02By law, that has to be done by the governor.
03:04If she does that, and if the president declares a federal emergency, that will unleash access
03:10to FEMA resources.
03:12We have a lot of water stored in FEMA warehouses here in Puerto Rico that I don't think is being
03:17used right now.
03:18It will also enable the SBA to give loans and assistance to small businesses that are
03:23being affected by the drought.
03:25The USDA will be able to provide assistance to agricultural workers.
03:29I also think she should request the National Guard to come back from D.C. to Puerto Rico.
03:35We have hundreds of Puerto Rican National Guard soldiers right now being deployed in Washington.
03:40I respect their work.
03:42I just don't agree with the president's policy of why he's deploying the National Guard in
03:46Washington.
03:46I think they're needed back on the island helping the people get water.
03:49Do you think people in Washington, just people on the mainland, understand how bad this is
03:56and how badly it needs to be addressed and needs assistance?
04:01And I'm also wondering if there's anything you can do.
04:02I know you're a non-voting rep, but you are in Washington.
04:05What are you doing to try to make this happen?
04:07Well, there's a lot I can do.
04:09I'm actually a limited voting rep.
04:11I sit on committees.
04:12I vote on committees.
04:13I vote on amendments.
04:13We've secured more funding for our infrastructures through projects like the Water Resources Development
04:18but Congress needs to approve those projects.
04:20We've also secured a lot of funding and released a lot of funding through FEMA.
04:24But ultimately, this is mostly a local issue.
04:27This is a local good governance issue.
04:29And speaking as a Puerto Rican frustrated with my own government, I must say we must take matters
04:36into our own hands and be better at demanding accountability from our local elected officials.
04:42We can't blame Washington for all our problems.
04:46Pablo, we've been speaking a lot about water issues, but we can't also forget about the
04:49rolling blackouts that have been happening for so long.
04:52Is there any solution to that as well?
04:55Or are both of these going to be something that Puerto Ricans just have to live with from
04:59now on?
05:01Yes, there is a solution.
05:03It just takes time.
05:04But again, we've had the same party in power for the past 10 years.
05:07In 10 years, we can get a lot done and they've got nothing done.
05:10What we need to do with power is we need to address affordability, generation, and distribution.
05:17And right now, we are facing a generation challenge because we're in the summer months.
05:23The heat makes energy consumption go up and there's just not enough energy being generated.
05:28To overcome that challenge, we need more investments in infrastructure.
05:32But to get the resources for those investments, there needs to be better coordination between
05:37FEMA, the federal agencies, the Department of Energy, and the local power companies and
05:43the local government.
05:44The information I have is that the local government doesn't even speak to one of the power utility
05:48companies because they have a vendetta and they're trying to cancel the contract, which
05:52wasn't a good contract in the first place.
05:54But while it gets canceled, we need them to work together and get stuff done.
05:58I go back to kind of searing images, including when President Trump was there after a previous
06:03storm, tossing paper towels callously, and wonder just sort of attitudinally how people
06:09feel about the federal government and the role that it plays.
06:11Or since you talk about the need for more federal investment, is there widespread optimism or
06:16belief that that's going to provide a solution here going forward?
06:19Look, Puerto Ricans value their U.S. citizenship.
06:22We all want to continue being a part of the U.S., but we want to be treated more fairly.
06:26And we think that the response to the last hurricane and the fact that we still have
06:31so many billions of dollars outstanding in federal reconstruction funds and projects
06:35is unacceptable.
06:36And the responsibility falls on our local government elected officials, but also on Washington
06:42for failing to provide the adequate support necessary to make those funds available.
06:47So that's the risk that they may most be threats to?
06:47No.
06:47It's the
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