In case you missed this Washington Post article by Mekela Panditharatne, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council — give it a read.
FEMA says most of Puerto Rico has potable water. That can’t be true.
I’ve changed the headline to make it stronger — simply because we’re being sold a bill of goods every time statistics are announced about how many Puerto Ricans have access to “potable water.”
Panditharatne reports:
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, this particular problem has subsided now, more than three months after the storm: FEMA’s official statistics on Puerto Rico, which rely on data provided by the territory, suggest that 95 percent of Puerto Ricans now have access to potable water.
That just isn’t possible.
I’m a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where I specialize in toxics and drinking water. Before Hurricane Maria, I worked with local groups in Puerto Rico on drinking-water contamination on the island. We put out a report in May showing that in 2015, 99.5 percent of Puerto Ricans — virtually all residents — were served by water sources that violated the Safe Drinking Water Act. These violations included contamination, failure to properly treat the water, and failure to conduct water testing or to report as required by federal rules. A substantial majority, 69.4 percent of the population, was drawing tap water that had unlawfully high levels of contaminants such as coliform bacteria, disinfection byproducts and volatile organic compounds, or that had not been treated in accordance with federal standards
The same way those misleading statistics on power keep being cited — when a huge segment of the population has no power, or is dependent on generators, the potability of and access to water on the island is still a major crisis.
She makes that point.
Second, power problems are water problems by another name. And a substantial portion of the island is still in the dark. According to the government of Puerto Rico, 34 percent of the territory, more than 1 million people, remains without power. Power and water are intimately connected: Water treatment plants are hooked to the electricity grid and rely on consistent energy. When treatment plants and pumping stations are propped up with generators, power can — and does — fail, resulting in frequent water shutoffs, as the island’s water authority indicates. Local officials in Puerto Rico say their water service typically goes in and out.
So if some people won’t have power till the end of May...what does that say about water?
It was back in October when I wrote "We need water." A cry for help from our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico.”
In November the Miami Herald reported Thousands in Puerto Rico still have no running water. That’s making people sick.
“We’re drinking water from wherever we can get it, because the water doesn’t come,” said José Luís Gambo Rodríguez as he helped his mother and stepfather wash clothes. “The government says there’s [purified] water, but it’s not here.”
It is now almost a new year. If you think most folks in PR have potable drinkable water — I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
Keep in mind that some people have had no power since Irma — two weeks before Maria.
How much water do you drink daily — and where do you get it? I live in a farm area and have a well. Without power my well-pump won’t work. Without power my reverse osmosis (RO) water system (I can’t trust my well water to be uncontaminated) won’t work. I’d have to buy drinking water. I can’t really afford it, and I have a job. Where do you think folks who are not working due to the hurricanes are going to get all that extra cash to buy water?
So, when you take a drink of uncontaminated water today — think about Puerto Rico, and help raise a stink after you take that drink.
Leave messages for your elected officials who are on holiday. Make a New Year’s Resolution to do more to get the word out.
Clean, drinkable water is a necessity — for us all.