There are 3.4 million American citizens living in Puerto Rico, and many are struggling for survival. Because communications have been cut off, and rescue workers still can’t reach far flung areas, the full scale of the devastation is still not clear.
"This is like in war: You work with what you have," Carlos Gómez-Marcial, the emergency room director at Centro Medico in San Juan, the main hospital on the island, told the N.Y. Times.
Sen. John McCain tweeted that the Trump administration’s refusal to waive the act is "unacceptable."
of Homeland Security can only waive the act unless there’s a threat to the nation, the Dept. Sec. James Mattis need only demonstrate that a waiver is "necessary in the interest of national defense."
About 2,200 federal employees are on the ground in San Juan, including 500 from FEMA, per officials. But communications have been difficult as power lines are down.
Still, FEMA said it has been in touch with all 78 mayors in Puerto Rico and distributed satellite phones to some.

Compounding that issue was hospitals lacking diesel and being unable to take new patients, she said.
“There’s so much contamination right now, there’s so many areas that are flooded and have oil, garbage in the water, there’s debris everywhere,” she said by phone.
“We’re going to have a lot of people that are potentially and unfortunately going to get sick and may die,” she said.
Still, doctors and locals have described rising concern over the availability of diesel to power life-saving equipment. Hurricane Maria has been blamed for at least 18 deaths in the territory.

68 per cent: Electrical power generation accounts for nearly 70 per cent of Canada’s water use.
In Nunavut, for example, more than 60 per cent of children live in households that are food insecure.
The majority of it ends up in landfills or the ocean, where there’s an estimated 100 million tons of plastic debris threatening the health and safety of marine life.
The debris in the patch accumulates because the vast majority is not biodegradable.
What would you rate Canada’s water quality?

Puerto Rico is in recovery after Hurricane Maria slammed the island on September 20, knocking out nearly all of its power and leaving many without access to food and water. According to the New York Times, Maria also leveled farms across Puerto Rico, which a farmer told the Times will leave the island without food.
And while the U.S. still exerts control over Puerto Rico, on September 26 it refused to lift restrictions that would make it easier to get supplies to the country, further complicating the relief effort. Lifting those restrictions, Reuters reports, would have made it easier to get aid and fuel to Puerto Rico, which the United States has been slow to do.
Be educated on Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory.
According to the New York Times, only 54% of Americans know that Puerto Ricans are fellow citizens.
In New York City, there are various locations accepting supply donations for Puerto Rico, including police and fire stations.
If you can, donate money.
It’s important to research any organization you donate money to, though.

A BROKEN water meter on the corner of Saron and Meerlust roads in Mulbarton has been broken for over a year and residents in the area said the amount of water which has just run away is unacceptable.
Last year the CHRONICLE did an article on the same water meter when ward 23 Councillor, Sarah Wissler went to have a look at the problem. It seemed the taxi drivers who use the informal taxi rank across the road from the meter had been tampering with it so they could have access to clean drinking water.
Clr Wissler was trying to get the problem sorted out last year but the residents said it’s never been fixed. “With drought conditions expected again this year, this is absolutely disgusting.
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New York: Minister of State for Foreign Affairs H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi reiterated the State of Qatar’s commitment as a partner in supporting efforts to achieve the goals and objectives of water-related sustainable development.
H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi also stressed on the importance of water in preserving life on earth and expressed his belief on the crucial role played by the Group of Friends of Water in which the State of Qatar has joined to meet its objectives.
He also referred to the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change hosted by the State of Qatar in 2012. He added that Qatar has taken measures to manage water as an important resource in an effective and sustainable manner.
As an example of these measures, Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi said that Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has launched a National Programme for Conservation and Energy Efficiency to promote the sustainable use of water and energy in the country. The programme has made huge strides in creating awareness.
The Minister stressed on the importance of the sustainable water management and the achievement of universal and equitable access to safe drinking water as well as the use of innovative solutions and sustainable technologies for the successful implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Plan.

Local politicians and Central Coast Council both say that they are waiting for more information from the EPA about the presence of PFAS fire-fighting chemicals in surface water, ground water, soil and in the Tuggerah Lakes system, before they can give the local community more information.
“Really, all we got out of them, was that they had directed, as they are able to do, the owners to go away and do more testing, and I don’t remember a timetable,” Mr MacDonald said. “They did undertake to talk to the owners about putting signage up, but there is no more clarity about risk or the levels of PFAS detected.” Mr MacDonald said that the EPA did not give the politicians briefed the test results that had already been conducted.
“At this point, the EPA makes a judgement about risk pathways and whether there is a direct pathway to human intake,” Mr MacDonald said. One of the major direct risk pathways identifi ed when the same chemicals were found at Williamtown, was that the surrounding community did not have access to reticulated water and was dependent on bore water for drinking, gardening and domestic use.
Central Coast Council has confirmed that all neighbourhoods surrounding the contaminated land have access to reticulated drinking water.
“The EPA has every right and every power to direct what gets tested, where, who does it and how it is reported.
Central Coast Council is directing all inquiries about the presence of PFAS fire-fighting chemicals in ground and surface water at Colongra and Munmorah power station sites back to the EPA.
“Central Coast Council has been informed that the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has directed Generator Protection Property Maintenance and Snowy Hydro to conduct further testing at the Munmorah and Colongra Power Stations as part of the state-wide investigation into PFAS (per- and ploy- fluoroaklkyl substances),” a statement from Council in response to the Chronicle’s questions said. “Any questions or concerns should be directed to the EPA’s NSW Environment Line on 131 555,” the statement from Central Coast Council said.

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Following the mass destruction of Hurricane Harvey, Brooke Kawana ’18 sent 100 water filters to the residents of Bevil Oaks, Texas, who were left without access to drinking water.
For the water from their sinks, hoses and wells to be safe for consumption, it must be boiled. Due to the fact that many citizens’ stoves were destroyed, Kawana said that the filters were vital.
Kawana sent the filters through the Clean Water Ambassadors Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides water filters to those without clean drinking water.
Through CWAF, Kawana was put into contact with Dr. Lisa Newell, a veterinarian who travelled to Texas to aid sick and injured animals. Newell dropped the filters off at Disaster Aid USA, who gave them to a local fire department.
Hardin County EMS Allen Ogle said that the citizens were grateful for the filters and touched by Kawana’s gesture.
“It made me feel good knowing that such a simple action as sending some water filters to people in need, could have such a huge impact on someone’s life,” Kawana said.

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KARACHI: WASH, a five-year strategy for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in schools, said to provide a roadmap for the Education and Literacy Department and partners working on education programmes, was launched by the Sindh Government in collaboration with Unicef Pakistan here on Monday.
According to Pakistan’s education statistics for 2015-16, one-third of public schools here lack bathroom facilities and clean drinking water. It has also been observed that children’s knowledge of health, hygiene and sanitation was low.
It is against this background that WASH seeks to improve access to adequate safe water and bathroom facilities while ensuring school-going children are educated on proper hygiene and sanitation by 2022.
It will also increase their school attendance while promoting health and hygiene,” said Sindh Minister for Education and Literacy Jam Mehtab Dahar at the launch.
Secretary for School Education and Literacy Department Abdul Aziz Uqaili also said that the Education and Literacy Department was committed to ensuring that all children in the province had access to good quality education, including those with special needs by providing a healthy, hygienic, safe and protective environment for them. “Ensuring access to safe drinking water, proper sanitation and hygiene facilities for school-going children is an integral part of this endeavour,” he said.

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“It was heartbreaking,” says the Puerto Rico native and organizer with the Puerto Rico Cultural Society of South Carolina, who recalled the desperate Facebook message from her 21-year-old niece.
On Monday, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that 60 percent of the island’s 3.4 million American citizens lacked access to drinking water.
“What Puerto Rico is experiencing after Hurricane Maria is an unprecedented disaster. The devastation is vast,” said Gov. Rossello is an official statement Monday, five days after Maria hit Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane.
The First Lady of Puerto Rico, Beatriz Rossello, has also helped establish an initiative called United for Puerto Rico for the purpose of providing aid and support to those affected by Hurricane Irma and Maria.