Justo Hernández, deputy federal coordinating officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told reporters that the 19,841 pallets of water were left on the runway at José Aponte de la Torre Airport and that as a result, “some of that water was spoiled.” Confusion about how such a massive miscalculation and subsequent handling of the water began Tuesday when photos of the bottled water were posted on Facebook.
Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, leaving residents without gas, power, or potable water for months.
At one point, nearly 1.5 million people had no access to drinking water, forcing some to drink unsafe water from creeks and rivers.
Hernández said that in January, FEMA had identified “an excess of water on the island” and began storing it at the airport.
In a statement, the General Services administrator, Ottmar Chávez, said that after his workers began delivering the water, they received complaints about the “smell and taste of the water.” “Based on those complaints, we contacted FEMA to return the water to the federal GSA inventory,” Chávez said.
As older pallets were delivered to local jurisdictions, the newly delivered pallets were placed on the runway, he said.
Despite the additional details, Puerto Rico Gov.
“It’s important to say that when that news came out, a FEMA spokesperson pointed to the government of Puerto Rico as if they were responsible for this water on the runway,” he said.
“However, with the evidence after conducting part of an investigation, the story is different.
We’re already seeing that FEMA is starting to acknowledge their responsibility for this water.” He also pointed to satellite photos that he said showed FEMA had started placing the water on the runway in January, but that the agency did not make it clear to other agencies it was available until several months later, when the bottles were already sun-damaged.