House Bill 1372 places Super Aqueduct modernization with AFI

On August 19, 2026, according to Metro Puerto Rico, Representative Víctor Parés Méndez and dozens of legislators introduced House Bill 1372. The Government Commission already has it before it. The bill creates the Strategic Program for the Preservation, Modernization, and Asset Management of the Puerto Rico Super Aqueduct and places its administration, development, and implementation under the Infrastructure Financing Authority. Metro's page carries August 22 in the URL; the body dates the filing to the 19th. This note's date is the filing date.

The proposal comes after Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority president Luis González Delgado expressed reservations about placing Super Aqueduct management with AFI, because its administration requires specialized knowledge of water production, treatment, and distribution. That position contrasted with that of the governor's water adviser, Carlos Pesquera. The bill, Metro says, splits functions. AFI would plan, contract, finance, coordinate, supervise, and execute the program, including requests for proposals and the Master Plan. The AAA would keep day-to-day operation and ordinary maintenance, and would have to supply AFI with technical, operational, historical, financial, and cartographic information. Both would be bound to an interagency agreement within 90 days after approval.

The legislation starts from the Super Aqueduct, built between 1995 and 2000, having ceased to be a complementary source and being essential infrastructure for the north and the metro area. It proposes declaring it a State Critical Asset. The evaluation would cover more than the 72-inch pipe: pumping stations, tanks, electrical systems, telemetry, cathodic protection, hydraulic capacity, droughts and extreme events, and the Dos Bocas and Caonillas reservoirs. The Master Plan, together with the AAA, should be in place 24 months after hiring the study team, and updated at least every five years. The system carries water from the Río Grande de Arecibo basin some 46 miles. Metro names communities from Arecibo to Bayamón, Guaynabo, San Juan, Carolina, Caguas Norte, and Gurabo.

It also creates a Special Fund under AFI, which would not revert to the General Fund at the close of each fiscal year. The measure does not set an initial appropriation or a program cost. It authorizes identifying appropriations, state and federal funds, loans, bonds, revolving funds, and contributions from the AAA itself. AFI would render an annual report to the governor and the Legislative Assembly. There is no price here. There is a vehicle without a figure.

On August 17, Alejandro García Padilla recalled the Super Aqueduct's use in the 2015 drought. On the 22nd, Metro covers a DRNA Task Force to dredge Carraízo. Two water threads, two agencies. This is AFI and House Bill 1372. A reader who wants the bill text has the Metro URL at the foot.

Source: Metro Puerto Rico. https://www.metro.pr/noticias/2026/08/22/bajo-analisis-legislativo-pasar-a-afi-la-modernizacion-del-superacueducto/