Our method
How we read what the AAA publishes.
The AAA's infrastructure page carries the same information twice, and the two versions do not always agree. This page sets out what we read, how we choose when they differ, and what we decided in each case.
Back to Where my water comes fromThe two sources
Both are on the AAA's page today, one below the other. Neither has been withdrawn.
- Graphic · 2020
- Campaign images, one per reservoir, inside the accordion panels: the municipality list, the client count and the operator logo.
- An image, not text. Read by eye and hand-verified.
- Radicado ante la Comisión Estatal de Elecciones CEE-SA-2020-8460
- Text · 2023
- The HTML text under each graphic: town, build year, who built it, capacity, depth, length and purpose.
- Plain text in the page source.
- Autorizado por la Oficina del Comisionado Electoral OCE-AR-2023-00143
The years come from each piece’s filing stamp, not from the date the information was gathered. We do not know whether it was re-surveyed in 2023 or whether the text was simply re-authorised.
We read the page on September 1, 2026.
The rule
We publish the more recent reading. Where the more recent one says nothing, the earlier one stands.
- If the 2023 text adds a municipality, we add it.
- If the 2023 text drops one, we drop it.
- If the 2023 text names no municipalities, the 2020 graphic’s list stands.
- If the two readings that differ are from the same year, we keep the one the rest of the page agrees with.
The third case is the one that matters. Cidra’s 2023 text says “consumo de la población metropolitana” and names nobody. Taken literally that would read as the AAA having removed four municipalities; it removed nothing, it said nothing. Silence is not a deletion, and the four stay.
The differences, one by one
The AAA gives two different readings in 5 cases. Here are both, and what we publish.
Toa Alta
Comerío
La Plata's panel contradicts itself: the heading says Comerío and both the text and the graphic say Toa Alta.
We publish: the value the text and the graphic agree on. The two readings that differ are from the same year, so recency does not decide.
Aguas Buenas, Caguas, Cayey, and Cidra
The 2023 text says it serves the metropolitan population. The 2020 graphic names four municipalities, none of them in the metro area.
We publish: the 2020 list. The 2023 text describes rather than enumerates, so it contradicts nothing.
Humacao, Yabucoa, Naguabo, Vieques, and Culebra
Naguabo, Humacao, Yabucoa, Las Piedras, Vieques, and Culebra
The 2023 text adds Las Piedras. The 2020 graphic does not include it.
We publish: the 2023 reading, which adds a municipality to the 2020 one.
Ceiba, Fajardo, Luquillo, and Río Grande
Fajardo, Luquillo, and Ceiba
The 2020 graphic includes Río Grande and the 2023 text drops it. The difference matters: Río Grande is another plant's area.
We publish: the 2023 reading, which names fewer municipalities than the 2020 one.
Quebradillas, Isabela, and San Sebastián
Quebradillas, Isabela, and San Sebastián
Isabela
The heading names one municipality; the text and the graphic agree on three.
We publish: the value the text and the graphic agree on. The two readings that differ are from the same year, so recency does not decide.
Where there is no second reading
In 2 cases the AAA gives not two different values but one we doubt. We publish neither.
Client counts are accounts, not people, and they are 2020 figures.
AAA gives Río Blanco and Fajardo the same capacity. We publish neither figure.
AAA gives Fajardo and Río Blanco the same capacity. We publish neither figure.
We publish no capacity for Río Blanco or Fajardo: the AAA gives the same figure for both.
What the AAA has not published
Of the 19 reservoirs in the daily bulletin, 8 have no service area published on this page.
- El Guineo
- Matrullas
- Guayabal
- Garzas
- Guayo
- Lucchetti
- Loco
- Dos Bocas
We show nothing for them. Their absence here does not mean they supply nobody: it means this source does not say.
For Cerrillos the AAA also breaks capacity down as 25,000 and 17,100, which come to 42,100 rather than the 47,900 it states. We publish neither figure.
Check it yourself
Everything above comes from a single reading of the AAA's page. You can open the original and download exactly what we extracted.