Puerto Ricans still don’t have reliable drinking water, and fears of contamination are rising
We saw many of your reports and others of people still three weeks out from the storm who are still drinking from streams and creeks.
How are people getting water now?
What’s concerning, William, is that three weeks after the storm and at least a week after the allegations first surfaced that people might be trying to drink from toxic wells at what’s known as Superfund sites, the governor of Puerto Rico is still saying, we’re looking into it and telling people to stay out of rivers where sewage may be spilling into the river.
The other scenarios are people right now who are drinking from streams and creeks and rivers who have no water filters, who have nothing, right?
DAVID BEGNAUD: The two men running the ship told us that nearly 87 percent of the ship is empty.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: One of the other pieces of reporting that you did that was very early in the story was this backlog of supplies trapped in container ships on the ports in Puerto Rico.
Can you tell us, are they getting to where they need to be throughout the island?
So, those were private companies that had brought in these shipping containers, paid for the supplies, but couldn’t move them because their truck drivers were either at home, because the home had been destroyed, or the road was impassable.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: David Begnaud, CBS News, thank you so much for your reporting.