波多黎各正经历历史性的干旱与严重的水资源危机，导致当地实施分区供水，数十万家庭面临缺水困境。然而，专家指出真正的问题并非完全缺乏水资源，而是政府长期对供水基础设施的疏忽与管理不善。由于管线老旧与破裂，当地自来水公司在将饮用水输送到用户家中之前，就已经流失了高达百分之六十的水量。

面对这种紧急情况，专家强烈建议推广雨水收集系统作为一种具备成本效益且能迅速实施的解决方案。尽管该地区每年的降雨量相当丰沛，但政府目前并没有强制要求或提供资金补助来鼓励居民安装这些设施。如果能有百万户家庭采用这项技术，波多黎各每年将能收集数百亿加仑的水资源，从而大幅减轻现有中央供水系统的负担。

虽然当地已经有部分非营利组织介入，协助弱势居民安装小型的雨水收集设备，但相关的立法推动却停滞不前。即使二零二四年有一项要求公共建筑安装该系统的法律，目前也未能获得有效执行。随著气候变迁加剧，未来的旱季将变得更长，推动这种分散式的基础设施将是波多黎各提升气候韧性的关键。（关键数字：2024）

Puerto Rico is experiencing a historic drought and a severe water crisis that has led to water rationing, leaving hundreds of thousands of households with limited access. However, experts point out that the real problem is not a complete lack of water resources, but rather the government's prolonged neglect and mismanagement of the water supply infrastructure. Due to aging and ruptured pipes, the local aqueduct authority loses up to sixty percent of its drinking water before it even reaches consumers' homes.

In response to this emergency, experts strongly recommend promoting rainwater harvesting systems as a cost-effective and rapidly deployable solution. Despite the region receiving abundant annual rainfall, the government currently does not mandate or provide financial incentives to encourage residents to install these facilities. If a million households adopted this technology, Puerto Rico could collect tens of billions of gallons of water annually, thereby significantly reducing the burden on the existing centralized water grid.

Although some local nonprofit organizations have stepped in to help vulnerable residents install small rainwater collection units, legislative efforts to promote the practice on a larger scale have stalled. Even a 2024 law requiring public buildings to install these systems has not been effectively enforced. As climate change intensifies and dry seasons are expected to become longer in the future, advancing such decentralized infrastructure will be a key factor in improving Puerto Rico's climate resilience.