More than three weeks since Hurricane Maria, more than a third of Puerto Ricans still don’t have access to drinking water. So some are turning to wells at Superfund sites on the island—areas designated the most toxic in US territory.
The EPA says it is assessing “Superfund sites, oil sites, and chemical facilities” inundated by the storm. The agency also warned that no one should drink water from rivers or streams unless it can be boiled for longer than one minute. With 60 percent of wastewater-treatment plants out of service, “raw sewage continues to be released into waterways and is expected to continue until repairs can be made and power is restored,” the EPA wrote.
The same day as the EPA’s email, president Donald Trump tweeted that the the US “cannot keep FEMA…in P.R. forever!