San Juan asks the court to find AAA in contempt

On July 1, 2026, NotiCel reports that the Municipality of San Juan, under Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo, asked Judge Anthony Cuevas Ramos to find the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority in contempt and to appoint a special commissioner to ensure compliance with the agreement between the public corporation and the municipal government. The outlet explains what that commissioner is: an official to whom the court delegates powers to make findings or conclusions and to ease the judicial work.

In a motion filed the previous night, according to NotiCel, the Municipality charges AAA with having breached the Settlement Stipulation and asks that the sanctions that in law proceed be imposed. "Despite the efforts of the Municipality and engineer Roberto W. Martínez Toledo, we turn to this honorable court for aid, since the sustained silence and inaction shown by AAA, in the face of the drinking-water service crisis that afflicts the capital city, are not tolerable," the filing the outlet reproduces alleges. The Municipality speaks of "passivity" before a public-health emergency that affects thousands of families and merchants in San Juan. That is the city hall's voice, not a verdict.

The same filing, according to NotiCel, says that between June 22 and June 27 San Juan "breathed": several sectors that had lost water recovered it when the Settlement Stipulation was implemented. That calm, it adds, was interrupted on the night of June 24, 2026, when the system collapsed without prior notice. That day, according to the municipal lawyers, AAA's executive vice president of Operations, Luis Ortiz Salgado, resigned. During the following weekend, AAA carried out screen-cleaning work at the Carraízo dam. Since then, the sectors that had recovered service lost it again. The Municipality says that, in practice, those residents are as badly off or worse than before the lawsuit.

On July 2, 2026, NotiCel covered the next step: Judge Anthony Cuevas Ramos denied the contempt request, ordered the parties to keep talking, and San Juan stopped asking for the metropolitan trustee. That is another date and another motion. This note covers the July 1 contempt petition. The reader who wants the full filing has the NotiCel URL at the foot.

Source: NotiCel. https://noticel.com/ultima-hora/20260701/san-juan-pide-al-tribunal-que-encuentre-en-desacato-a-la-aaa/