OVERSIGHT BOARD CERTIFIES REVISED PRASA FISCAL PLAN
Includes Advanced Metering Infrastructure and other Programs to Address Water Losses; Outlines Capital Improvement Projects
San Juan, PR – June 12, 2024 – The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico announced that its members certified the revised Fiscal Plan for the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA), updated with the most recent data and projections for revenue and expenses and a roadmap to mitigate water losses and other critical areas PRASA must continue to address to ensure long-term sustainability.
“The people of Puerto Rico depend on a stable utility that can reliably provide clean water,” said the Oversight Board’s Executive Director Robert F. Mujica Jr. “The PRASA Fiscal Plan is the roadmap to improve and secure Puerto Rico’s water supply. Puerto Rico cannot rely on faulty meters and continued loss of water. The value of PRASA’s water losses is estimated at over $400 million. It must be stopped. PRASA’s long term operational and financial sustainability is essential to ensure a reliable water service for Puerto Rico’s residents and businesses, now and in the future.”
Addressing high levels of water loss remains one of the Fiscal Plan’s priorities. The meter replacement project outlined in the Fiscal Plan, currently in its pilot phase, will focus on an island-wide installation effort of new, non-mechanical smart meter technologies, that will serve to proactively identify the sources of commercial water losses and improve customer service.
PRASA’s aged mechanical meters are highly inaccurate and preclude PRASA from properly measuring water consumption and billing customers. For this transformative Advanced Metering Infrastructure project, PRASA will be investing $790 million in FEMA funds to replace the meters and creating a $430 million reserve to cover reinvestments in metering and other infrastructure needs.
The Fiscal Plan also includes other critical projects to effectively reduce water losses, such as establishing a new Visualization and Hydraulic Control Center (VHCC). The VHCC will provide real-time data of changes in water pressures and flow to proactively identify potential unreported leaks. Pressure management is one of the most basic and effective tools available to address water losses.
Further, the Fiscal Plan outlines PRASA’s $11.3 billion Capital Improvement Program to improve resiliency and reduce operating costs, including $725 million for improvements to its water distribution system. In addition, the Fiscal Plan enables the implementation of PRASA’s updated classification and compensation plans in compliance with the Civil Service Reform, improvements to procurement practices, and a continued implementation of 2% rate adjustments to cover rising operating costs and fund investments.