By The Star Staff
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia on Tuesday inaugurated the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority’s (PRASA) Central Laboratory in Caguas, which was destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Attending the ribbon cutting were PRASA Executive President Doriel Pagán Crespo; Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience Executive Director Manuel Laboy Rivera; and Andrés García Martinó, the deputy federal coordinator for disaster recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The laboratory helps test the quality of the island’s water, which has been in the headlines due to high levels of metals.
“Today, we continue to take firm steps in favor of the safety and quality of our drinking water services throughout Puerto Rico. Maintaining and repairing our water systems is a priority to maintain the water quality standards and all the essential services we provide to our people,” the governor said. “The laboratory is essential because it guarantees compliance with state and federal regulations and standards for our water quality in Puerto Rico. This is the only laboratory in the Caribbean certified by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health to perform critical tests on water quality.”
The governor noted that the new laboratory is not just a facility, it is a modern installation that establishes a point of reference in the monitoring of the quality and safety of the island’s water systems. The project represents a total investment of $37.3 million, of which $33.6 million was provided by FEMA, while the remainder came from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program.
“Certainly, today is a great day for PRASA; this is the result of hard teamwork, which led us to make our new laboratory a reality,” Pagán Crespo said. “After Hurricane Maria, our laboratory was destroyed; our commitment to our customers led us to look for other alternatives for temporary space to continue offering the service. This building becomes the largest structure in the Caribbean for these purposes. Here, we receive more than 120,000 samples annually to be analyzed and validated in compliance with regulations and quality standards. We are the only certified laboratory in the Caribbean to perform the Cryptosporidium/Guardia analysis, one of the EPA standards.”
García Martinó of FEMA said “the staff of our agency worked very hard to move this project forward.”
“The agency’s funds covered the work on the infrastructure and contributed to replacing the technical equipment, which allowed us to expand the number of tests carried out,” he said. “The greatest satisfaction is knowing that these facilities will contribute to the health of a resource as essential as water for customers throughout the island.”
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