2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWELVE - Conservation (§§ 1-16 — 8162) › Subtitle 4A - Water Law (1976) › Chapter 118 - Conservation, Development and Use of Water Resources (§§ 1115 — 1115v) › § 1115q - Orders of Secretary, administrative fines and aid of jurisdiction

(a) The Secretary, or his/her authorized representatives, shall have the power to admit testimony, administer oaths, issue summons requiring the appearance of witnesses or the introduction of documentary evidence or of any other kind. The Secretary may issue orders to do or not to do, and to cease and desist, and to impose sanctions and administrative fines up to a maximum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), for violations of this chapter, its regulations, or the orders issued thereunder. Each day of infraction of any provision of this chapter shall be deemed an individual infraction. The imposition of sanctions and administrative fines requires a prior hearing, except in the case of the administrative fines issued by the Natural Resources Ranger Corps through tickets for the amounts listed below, without the requirement of a prior hearing when the following infractions are committed:
(1) Use of water with an expired franchise: $400.00
(2) Use of water without a franchise: $500.00
(3) Use of water without a copy of the franchise resolution granted by the Secretary, at the site of the extraction: $200.00
(4) Construction of an extraction system without a copy of the permit resolution granted by the Secretary, at the site of the extraction: $200.00
(5) Construction of an extraction system without a permit: $500.00
(6) Construction of an extraction system with an expired permit: $400.00
(7) Operation of an extraction system without a meter, when it has been established as a requirement by the Secretary: $200.00
(8) Operation of an extraction system with a damaged meter and of which the consumer has not informed the Secretary: $200.00
(9) Bypass of water to keep it from going through the meter: $500.00
(10) In cases of rural aqueducts governed by this chapter, the fine for each ticket shall be $25.00 for any of the infractions listed above.
A ticket may be issued for every infraction, for each day of the violation, until the infraction is corrected. No more than one ticket shall be issued per day for each infraction. The imposition of fines through tickets does not limit the powers of the Secretary to issue orders to do or not to do, to cease and desist, and after a hearing, to impose sanctions and administrative fines; Provided, That in the case of the fines, the sum of the amounts imposed through tickets and the amounts imposed through the hearings, shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for each infraction. The fines imposed through tickets shall be paid or objected within a term of thirty (30) days from the date the tickets are issued. If a ticket is objected, the objection procedure shall be governed by the regulations of the Department that govern the adjudication procedures. The impugnation process shall be consolidated with the adjudicative process related to the complaint or order presented for the same facts, if any.
The funds corresponding to the payment of administrative tickets comprised in subsection (s) of § 1115d of this title, shall be covered into the Special Water Fund created by virtue of § 1115k of this title.
The Secretary may appear before the Court of First Instance to request the latter order compliance of any summons or order issued by him/her.
(b) No person may refuse to comply with a summons of the Secretary or of his duly authorized representatives, or with a judicial order issued to that effect, alleging that the testimony or evidence which he is required to give might incriminate him or give rise to the imposition of a penalty. Such testimony or evidence may not be presented against that person in any other proceeding.
History —June 3, 1976, No. 136, p. 390, § 18; Feb. 17, 2000, No. 49, § 2.