The proposed luxury residential development Esencia has been marketed as a cosmopolitan city stretching along three miles of beach in Cabo Rojo, surrounded by “hills, sea and coast.”

Three Rules Capital, the firm developing the project, has a catalog of images of the hundreds of “cuerdas” of ecologically valuable land that will be altered as part of the luxury enclave. Although the project has not received all the permits needed for construction, its proponents are already seeking buyers for its apartments and properties, with prices starting at nearly $2 million and potentially exceeding $20 million.

However, the project’s prime location — its main selling point — has become a constraint on its water viability.

Experts in geology, hydrology and engineering interviewed by the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI) agreed that the heat, low rainfall and high salt concentration in groundwater reserves on the project site limit Esencia’s options for supplying itself with water without affecting the supply for hundreds of thousands of residents in southwestern Puerto Rico, including Cabo Rojo, and without harming the mangroves, forests, lagoons and beaches that have been central to Esencia’s marketing.

Cabo Rojo is one of Puerto Rico’s driest areas , according to researchers who study the island’s water resources. An average of just 45 inches of rain falls annually across southern and southwestern Puerto Rico, according to an analysis of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while the average for the rest of the island is about 66 inches a year. Rainfall varies during the drier months, experts told the CPI. In the future, it could also decline because of climate change.

Esencia’s developer has repeatedly said the project will operate independently of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA), the Lajas Valley Irrigation District and the multiple reservoirs in the area. On paper, however, the developer has not ruled out the possibility that a connection to the Betances Filtration Plant could be “made feasible.”

To uphold its promise of independence from public water distribution systems, Three Rules Capital proposes desalinating seawater if its other alternatives — capturing rainwater, extracting groundwater through wells on the property and reusing water from an allegedly unused drainage channel — prove unviable.

Three Rules Capital stated in its Environmental Impact Statement (DIA, in Spanish) filed with the Permit Management Office that the project would need 1.25 million gallons of drinking water a day to meet demand. In recent weeks, the developer said in an advertorial that water demand would instead be 3.77 million gallons a day, more than twice as much.

Cabo Rojo currently consumes 4.45 million gallons of drinking water a day, the Puerto Rico government estimates.

Municipalities, government agencies and lawmakers have repeatedly said the project must demonstrate that it can generate enough of its own drinking water to operate independently without relying on the public water system.

The Betances Filtration Plant in Cabo Rojo, from which Esencia would draw water, is connected to reservoirs with limited storage capacity to supply residents in the southwest, in part because of sediment buildup. The plant receives water from the Lajas Valley Irrigation District, which gets water from Loco Dam in Yauco. The dam, in turn, receives releases through tunnels from the Lucchetti and Guayo reservoirs in Yauco and Adjuntas, respectively.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), which manages the irrigation canals, told the developer that any additional consumption that relies on what the Betances Filtration Plant already produces would jeopardize the water security of more than 140,000 residents of Sabana Grande, San Germán, Lajas and Cabo Rojo who receive water from filtration plants connected to the Lajas Valley Irrigation District.

Water Is Running Out

The developer of the Esencia project commissioned groundwater extraction tests to determine its availability for the project. The tests were conducted by JS Drilling, a water-well drilling and environmental services firm.

The firm installed five wells and extracted water for one day. When the exercise was completed, the results showed that only one of the five wells proved viable for the project. According to the final report, prepared late last year, only 110 gallons of potable water per minute were extracted. That amounts to 158,400 gallons a day, nearly one-eighth of the 1.25 million gallons of groundwater needed for the project.

Oscar L. Fontán, former president of the Puerto Rico Board of Examiners of Geologists and the Puerto Rico Geological Society, warned that to obtain the water needed for the project, the developer would have to install no fewer than 10 wells. Those would include not only wells to extract water but backup wells in case any of the others fail.

Installing many wells in the aquifer, even if it is pristine, as the proponents say, will result in saltwater intrusion, reduced water production and a drop in the water level, the geologist warned. Those are the same effects the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found decades ago.

“The aquifer is in a small area, with limited extraction potential,” Fontán said. “Overextraction [of water] for the project could potentially reduce the size of the aquifer and affect its quality to the point of making it unusable and affecting areas beneath the project and nearby communities,” the geologist added.

The exploitation of water resources in the Lajas Valley aquifers can affect nearby wells that draw from the same groundwater reserves, according to USGS studies. The studies also indicate that because of their proximity to the coast, high salt concentration and low recharge capacity, overuse can increase the likelihood of saltwater intrusion, in which salt water enters aquifers as freshwater is depleted.

Jobel Y. Villafañe Pagán, a researcher, educator, hydrologist and geologist, fears that extracting water through wells for Esencia could create a hydrologic imbalance and even an imbalance in ecosystems as groundwater is redirected to the Esencia project.

Marine geologist Rafael Rodríguez Cruzado, former director of the USGS Water Resources Office, questioned the methodology Three Rules Capital used to investigate water availability.

“Only one well proved productive enough for a 24-hour pumping test, at 110 GPM [gallons of potable water per minute], equivalent to about 158,400 gallons per day, barely 12.7% of the 1.25 MGD [million gallons per day] required. A test of this duration also does not prove that this level of extraction can be sustained for decades, particularly during droughts and considering the interference and drawdown that multiple wells would cause,” Rodríguez Cruzado warned.

The marine geologist also warned that the studies needed to determine the potential effects of using the aquifer on other users and nearby ecosystems have not been conducted.

The developer’s test confirmed that the well the firm identified not only fails to provide the amount of water needed to meet the project’s daily demand, but that the water extracted from the only functional well had a chloride concentration corresponding to saltwater intrusion under USGS parameters.

Farmers in the Lajas Valley have also raised concerns about water extraction for the luxury megaproject.

“A project like the one proposed poses a major threat to water for agricultural use in the Lajas Valley and to those who rely on this system for their drinking water,” Carlos Alfredo Vivoni Remus, a member of the board of directors of the Frente Unido Pro-Defensa del Valle de Lajas, warned in testimony. “We could foresee an increase in interruptions to water for household use, in the hypothetical case that water deliveries were increased to meet the needs of the hotel, residences, golf courses, shopping center and restaurants,” the farmer also warned.

Uncertainty Over Rainwater Collection

The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) warned the project’s developer in a written communication in March 2025 that about 85% of the rain that falls in Cabo Rojo evaporates and is lost, meaning it does not become a source of aquifer recharge. During droughts, particularly in the future because of climate change, conditions could be even worse, experts interviewed by the CPI warned.

“Just to give you an idea of how dry [Cabo Rojo] is, look at a parcel with natural vegetation and what you’ll see is dry vegetation and cacti in some areas,” said Carlos Ramos Scharrón, a professor of geography and the environment at the University of Texas at Austin.

Aquifers function like sponges, the hydrogeomorphology expert explained. They consist of rocks through which water percolates during extended periods of rainfall and wet conditions, which are rare in the south. That is why expectations for aquifer recharge there are minimal.

Given the area’s climate conditions, Ramos Scharrón warned that the aquifer identified by Esencia’s proponents is likely limited, not only in terms of its water supply but also in its recharge capacity.

In addition, according to several experts, construction associated with the project could increase the amount of impervious surface. Imperviousness occurs when a surface, altered through new construction or changes to the land, loses its ability to absorb water. In Esencia’s case, that would mean less recharge for the aquifers.

Civil engineer Luis Cruz Miranda, who specializes in water management, said the developer of the luxury complex would have to devote virtually all its 1,504 acres to capturing the 36 million gallons of water the project needs each month. This scenario raises questions for Cruz Miranda about the modifications that might be needed to redirect runoff and distribute water to drainage systems to achieve the developer’s projected goal.

Three Rules Capital has publicly said the project will affect only 25% of the property, equivalent to 376 acres. DNER, on the other hand, said its environmental footprint would cover 68%, or 1,023 acres. Under either scenario, the figures presented fall short of what would be needed for the project’s water viability.

“The calculation may be mathematically possible if a very large proportion of the project actually contributes to the [water] collection systems, but it has not been demonstrated that this is the case,” Cruz Miranda said.

The developer has proposed building retention ponds on 27 acres of land — the same area as Luis Muñoz Rivera Park in Puerta de Tierra, San Juan. But Cruz Miranda said that to store the volume of water the project needs, the retention ponds would have to be no less than four feet deep. He explained that the ponds must be in areas where they can receive the necessary volume of water through runoff to meet the project’s demand.

Residents of Puerto Rico’s southwestern region have repeatedly warned about the dry conditions on the property where the project would be built.

“The municipality of Cabo Rojo is one of Puerto Rico’s driest regions, and the Esencia Project proposes a luxury development with 530 hotel units, 1,132 tourist residences, a school with 500 dormitory rooms and golf courses, which would represent massive water consumption. However, the water system in the region does not have the capacity to meet this demand, which would require new infrastructure or the diversion of existing resources, which we know do not exist,” Cristina Rodríguez, a San Germán resident, said in testimony opposing the project during last year’s public hearings.

The Allegedly Unused Drainage Channel

In its advertising supplement in the newspapers El Nuevo Día and Primera Hora, Esencia’s developer said it had identified an unused drainage channel on the project site. The structure collects agricultural runoff, water flowing from the mountains and overflow from the municipality’s road network. But according to PREPA, the structure is not unused; it is part of the Lajas Valley Irrigation District.

The Irrigation District is under PREPA’s legal custody. Water flowing through its drainage channels passes through Laguna Cartagena and ends up in the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge, as well as in the bays of Guánica and Cabo Rojo. This complex cycle contributes to the functioning of the Refugio de Vida Silvestre Iris L. Alameda Martínez. According to experts consulted by the CPI, any changes to surface and groundwater flows if the project goes forward could have adverse effects on nearby ecosystems and bodies of water.

“The fact that some of the water eventually discharges into coastal bodies of water does not mean that this flow serves no function within the existing hydrologic and drainage system,” Cruz Miranda added.

“Before considering a portion of these flows as a source of supply, it would be necessary to determine how much flow is available after accounting for the system’s current uses, drainage needs and seasonal hydrologic variations,” the civil engineer said.

Desalination Is an Uphill Battle

At public hearings on the project in the Senate, government agencies agreed that seawater desalination is the only viable option for supplying Esencia given the area’s hydrologic conditions.

The proponents said at the hearing that they will desalinate seawater using reverse osmosis. In their reports before that hearing, they had said that “there is no anticipated need to build a desalination plant to meet the project’s drinking water demand.”

Three Rules maintained before the Senate that it had included in the DIA a reverse osmosis plant capable of desalinating water. Planner Ariam L. Torres Cordero, of the Coalición Defiende a Cabo Rojo, told the CPI that the alternative was not included in the DIA.

The Caribbean Green Technology Center notes that reverse-osmosis desalination requires 13 to 26 times more energy than freshwater systems and is also expensive. On the Caribbean island of Antigua, for example, the cost per gallon of desalinated water is four times the cost of surface water and six times the cost of groundwater, according to experts in water management.

The rate for desalinated water could be approximately 10 to 20 times higher than PRASA’s base drinking-water rate because it would require specialized technology and personnel, said Carlos González Badillo, a marine biologist and consultant specializing in water technology.

González Badillo also said the developer will have to weigh the environmental impact of reverse-osmosis desalination. The process separates salt from water, generating highly saline wastewater known as “brine” that is discharged into receiving bodies of water. This waste poses an environmental risk to living organisms in affected aquatic ecosystems by altering their habitat.

Near the area where the project would be built are coral reef colonies and West Indian manatees, which feed on seagrass. Scientific studies by academic institutions have found that brine reduces populations of microorganisms, crustaceans, seagrass and coral.

This translation was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and clarity.