More than 160,000 people living in and near San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, will have access to water only every other day after the U.S. territory's government imposed strict water rationing on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

The Puerto Rican cities of Carolina and Trujillo Alto will all be affected, United Press International added.

Gov. Alejandro García Padilla has declared a state of emergency, and officials warned that service could be cut for up to 36 hours if water levels at the island's main reservoirs keep dropping; the measures could stay in place for months, the AP detailed.

Alberto Lazaro, the executive president of the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority, urged residents to act responsibly in order to avoid a further deterioration of the situation caused in part by an unusually dry month of May.

"This is not the time to be filling up pools, washing cars or using hoses to clean," Lazaro said.

The water and sewer company put out a statement counseling Puerto Ricans, among other things, to avoid the use of dishwashers; buy plastic plates and utensils; use only one bathroom per residence; and avoid washing their cars, according to El Nuevo Día.

Nevertheless, local residents "have emptied store shelves of gallon-sized jugs of water as they prepare for sponge baths," and restaurants and other businesses have also taken measures to tackle the first water rationing since 1994, the Associated Press said.

Francisco Aponte, who along with his wife, Marilia Hernández Rosado, owns Martins BBQ in El Señorial, told El Nuevo Día that the restrictions represented a true challenge to their operation.

"It's a headache; if it is one day (with water supply), one without, we can make the necessary adjustments," Aponte said. "But if they extend the hours, it would be a huge problem. It would get much more difficult," the restaurant owner added.

Martins BBQ has switched to plastic utensils, but Aponte said other problems just do not have a solution.

"The soda fountains cannot be used," he said. "And the same with the ice (machines); we have to buy ice. And the same goes for the water we need to cook. The cost is six or seven times more expensive," he worried.