According to data reported by the island’s water systems between January 2015 and March 2018, 97 percent of Puerto Rico’s population is served by a local drinking water system with at least one recent violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act’s lead and copper testing requirements.
But, he says, the federal data make the problem seem worse than it is, because federal law requires that the utility test the drinking water at specific times.
But in Puerto Rico, there isn’t always water to test.
And when the water is off, they don’t test it.
But, she says, public distrust is already so high that transparency about drinking water testing is a good thing, even if the data suggest that drinking water might not be entirely safe.
And his concern only grew because when he went to check the public data reported by the Puerto Rican water utility, he found they hadn’t been testing for lead the way they were supposed to under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
HERSHER: But the public official in charge of Puerto Rico’s drinking water says the data makes the problem seem worse than it is.
When the water is off, they don’t test it.
And indeed, an initial water test done by that scientist, Fernando Rosario-Ortiz and his team, showed lead levels in her home that are higher than the federal health threshold.
But Rosario-Ortiz says although it’s good for research, this kind of small-scale testing doesn’t fix the underlying problem – years of public failure to make sure the water that comes out of people’s taps is safe and that people know that, both by investing money and communicating with residents about their water quality.