P.R. Laws tit. 12, § 1115a
It is the public policy of the Commonwealth to maintain the degree of purity of the waters of Puerto Rico required for the welfare, safety and development of the Island, to insure the water supply that may be needed by the present and future Puerto Rican generations by establishing water reservation areas and using the waters and bodies of water in accordance with the public interest and with their best, most beneficial and most reasonable use. To this end, and apropos, it is expressly declared, in order to protect our people from the adversities of the shortage, misuse, waste and pollution of such an essential resource, as well as to attain that its utilization be compatible with the physico-natural realities surrounding it and with the social and economic needs of our Island, that the waters and bodies of water of Puerto Rico are the property and wealth of the People of Puerto Rico. The Commonwealth Government shall administer and protect this patrimony in the name and on behalf of the Puerto Rican people.
Likewise it is the policy of the Commonwealth to achieve the most equitable and fairest distribution of its waters. To that effect it is established that the water requirements inherent in domestic consumption and particularly human consumption, shall be satisfied with priority over any others and that in the adjudication of the surplus available, the public interest shall prevail over any other interest or claim.
History —June 3, 1976, No. 136, p. 390, § 2.