When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, water utilities were shut down, making access to safe drinking water one of the most pressing issues across the island.
So, a citizen science group in Rincón, Puerto Rico, rallied to help test drinking water sources.
Steve Tomar, who has lived in Rincón for more than 40 years, was in a position to help.
It was like three months at the earliest before they started responding.” Without a functioning central water authority and with all the stores having sold out of bottled water and soda, locals had to resort to natural water sources like springs, wells and streams.
Once they were able to get the right supplies, they tested for other contaminants, including bacteria from fecal matter.
They have to take samples back to the lab in the Surfrider office to test for the things that can really make people sick, including coliform, enterococcus bacteria and E. coli.
After the hurricane, this was no longer an issue.
“These are your people, so whatever you can do to keep them healthy and informed, you do it.” Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force is the largest citizen science program in Puerto Rico.
Tomar says it was relatively easy to transition the skills volunteers developed for testing ocean water into testing drinking water.
“In a lot of ways, I think the major benefit of these community-based science programs is developing skill sets in the community,” he says.