Senate Blocks Bill That Would Have Put Pesquera on AAA's Governing Board Amid Leadership Crisis

The Puerto Rico Senate defeated a bill on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, filed by Governor Jenniffer González Colón's administration that would have opened the door for engineer Carlos Pesquera to join the Governing Board of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA) ¹². Senate Bill 1453 fell on a voice vote just hours after it was filed, at a moment when the public corporation is facing one of the worst leadership and service crises in its recent history ¹³.

The measure sought to eliminate the prohibition that currently bars anyone who has been part of a central or local governing body of a political party during the year before their appointment from holding a seat on the AAA Governing Board ¹². Pesquera, a lifetime member of the New Progressive Party's (PNP) Directorate, had publicly said he was available for the post, but acknowledged that current law blocks him as long as he holds that status ¹.

The backdrop: a corporation without a helm

The vote comes amid a governance crisis that has been building for months. AAA's current president, Luis González Delgado, has offered his resignation on multiple occasions, Governor González Colón confirmed. "I have asked him many times to stay," the governor said on September 4 ⁴. González Delgado earns an annual salary of roughly $170,000, or $14,166 a month ⁴.

The governor has interviewed several former AAA directors as possible replacements, including Doriel Pagán Crespo, Elí Díaz Atienza and Carlos Pesquera Morales himself, but none has formally accepted, partly over disagreements about the salary offered ⁴. On top of the vacancy in the executive presidency, the Governing Board's own chairmanship has also remained empty since Héctor Del Río Jiménez resigned in August ⁴.

Meanwhile, communities in the San Juan metro area have spent more than a year dealing with recurring water service interruptions, worsened by the drought affecting the island ⁴. Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz said on September 9 that "La Fortaleza doesn't recognize the management problem" at AAA, and questioned handing more responsibility to a management team that "hasn't been able to handle less" ³. Rivera Schatz made clear the PNP delegation backs "100 percent" an eventual nomination of Pesquera to AAA's presidency, but that wasn't enough to save a bill whose scope went far beyond that single appointment ³.

What the defeated bill would have eliminated

Senate Bill 1453 didn't just touch the political-affiliation prohibition. It also sought to restore a "holdover" provision letting independent directors stay in their posts after their terms expire without a replacement named, eliminate the requirement that executive search firms certify candidates for independent director seats, and extend the consumer representative's term on the Board from three to five years ²³. Lawmakers objected that the package of changes reduced transparency and public scrutiny over who ends up at the table overseeing a corporation with serious operational problems ².

What it means for you

If you live in a municipality served by AAA, especially in the San Juan metro area, this vote doesn't directly resolve the service interruptions you've endured, but it does block, for now, a rule change that would have lowered the eligibility and transparency filters for the people who decide on your water supply. The vacancy in both the executive presidency and the Governing Board chairmanship means AAA keeps operating without permanent leadership while outages persist, which can mean slower responses to your service complaints in the coming weeks.

How to do it / Checklist

1. If you have a service interruption or leak, report it to AAA's Customer Service Center at 787-620-2482, available 24 hours; select the option for outages and pressure problems, and follow @AcueductosPR on Facebook and X for notices by sector.
2. If your complaint doesn't get an adequate response, file a formal grievance with the Independent Office for Consumer Protection (OIPC) at 787-523-6962.
3. Most billing, payment plan, and claims procedures no longer require an in-person visit: use the Mi AAA portal or the agency's official mobile app.
4. To track the status of Senate Bill 1453 or future appointments to AAA's Governing Board, check the Legislative Tracking System at oslpr.org or the Senate's agenda at senado.pr.gov.
5. If you want your senator to know your position on AAA's governance, contact your senatorial district office directly; phone numbers are listed at senado.pr.gov.

What's next

The González Colón administration will have to decide whether to refile the bill in a narrower form focused only on the political-affiliation prohibition, or abandon for now the attempt to seat Pesquera on the Board. Meanwhile, the search for a permanent replacement for Luis González Delgado continues, and the Governing Board chairmanship remains vacant since Del Río Jiménez's resignation. The Senate has said it will keep demanding information about AAA's operational management through the Full Commission, after the corporation missed earlier deadlines to turn over documents on the recurring outages in the metro area.