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(WISH) – A hurricane recovery initiative created by an Army veteran from Indiana has brought the clean, crisp taste of relief to hundreds of families across Puerto Rico.
Christopher Manus, a Logansport native who relocated six months ago to the island’s west coast, began pumping, boiling, purifying, bottling and delivering water from a tank behind his home after a chance encounter with a stranger one night opened his eyes to the magnitude of the post-Maria water crisis.
“The whole town [of Rincon] was still without power at the time,” he said.
“This gentleman approached me, holding a flashlight and basically asking if I had water.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about that man [begging for water],” Manus told 24-Hour News 8.
The following day, Manus spent 12 hours processing 25 gallons of water and bottling it for delivery, making the most of supplies – and tree branches – in his vicinity.
“If you’re a grandma over there, you have these big pots where you cook the rice, the paellas and all that,” explained fiancee Frances Alicea with a laugh.
“We are actually going to install a 250-gallon cistern at the elementary school in Calvache and we’re going to attach six separate filters,” Manus revealed.
“When you hand someone here a bottle of clean drinking water, their face says it all,” Manus said.