Last week, Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico as a powerful Category 4 storm, bringing with it 20 inches of rain and 155 mile-per-hour winds. Much of the island was devastated: Nearly all of the 3.4 million people on the island lost power, 80 percent of the agriculture was decimated, and the storm is responsible for 16 deaths so far.
About 1.5 million people—44 percent of the island—are without clean drinking water and are relying on water bottles or unsafe water sources for cleaning, drinking, and cooking.
“The lack of ability to treat the water means that the raw sewage and floodwaters can contaminate the drinking source,” says Erik Olson, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
In 2015, 99.5 percent of Puerto Ricans got their water from systems that had violated the Safe Drinking Water Act, the federal law that regulates toxic chemicals in the US water supply; nearly 70 percent, or 2.4. million Puerto Ricans drank water from systems that had SDWA health violations.
Those countries could come with bottled water and filters.” Trump has lifted the shipping restrictions for 10 days; perhaps more supplies can reach desperate Puerto Ricans.
The pile is located in the southern region of the island, next to a low-income community.