At least 35% of the residents in Puerto Rico have no access to clean water, according to Status PR, the Puerto Rican government’s website that keeps track of relief efforts there.
CNN reported that it witnessed workers for Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, the island’s water utility, distributing water from a well at the Dorado Groundwater Contamination Site, which was included on a list of federal Superfund sites last year.
The US Environmental Protection Agency said at the time that the site contained potentially harmful chemicals like tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene. According to the EPA, the risks associated with exposure include liver damage and an increased risk of cancer.
"The EPA is gathering more information about the quality of water from the wells associated with our Dorado groundwater contamination site, as well as other Superfund sites in Puerto Rico," the EPA’s statement read.
President Donald Trump has received poor reviews for his handling of the relief effort in Puerto Rico, even as Trump has repeatedly applauded himself. House Speaker Paul Ryan visited the island on Friday and promised continued financial support from the federal government, a day after Trump said the US military and FEMA could not stay on the island forever.
Some were resigned to the desperation of the moment, CNN reported: "I don’t have a choice," 66-year-old Jose Luis Rodriguez told the news network. "This is the only option I have."

Dorado, Puerto Rico (CNN)Jose Luis Rodriguez waited in line Friday to fill plastic jugs in the back of his pickup truck with water for drinking, doing the dishes and bathing.
But there is something about this water Rodriguez didn’t know: It was being pumped to him by water authorities from a federally designated hazardous-waste site, CNN learned after reviewing Superfund documents and interviewing federal and local officials.
Friday afternoon, CNN watched workers from the Puerto Rican water utility, Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, or AAA, distribute water from a well at the Dorado Groundwater Contamination Site, which was listed in 2016 as part of the federal Superfund program for hazardous waste cleanup.
In announcing the addition of the Dorado site to the Superfund program, the US Environmental Protection Agency says the area was polluted with industrial chemicals, including tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene, which "can have serious health impacts including damage to the liver and increasing the risk of cancer," according to the EPA.
It’s unclear whether there are public health risks from this particular well, however.
"While some of these wells are sometimes used to provide drinking water, the EPA is concerned that people could be drinking water that may be contaminated, depending on the well.
Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, the water authority, was unaware that this well site was part of the Superfund program until CNN provided maps showing that this was the case, according to Luis Melendez, sub-director for environmental compliance at the utility.
In 2015, this well in Dorado, which is located near a shopping center, was found by the EPA to be safely within federal standards for PCE and chloroform, two industrial chemicals.
"I’ve never seen this before," he said, referring to the idea a Superfund site would be used as a source of public drinking water.
People waiting in line for water on Friday were largely unaware of these concerns.

And even where there is water, officials are advising residents to boil it beforehand, to ensure that it is safe to consume. “Dozens of water and wastewater treatment plants remain inactive after the hurricane. And damage to the laboratories where water quality is analyzed has forced the island’s water authority to outsource the task to private entities,” NBC News reported. On Wednesday, FEMA announced that it had authorized $70 million dollars to the Puerto Rican government to restore water safety.
These reports come as the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico remains dire. Roughly 35 percent of residents still don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water, and an even larger portion of the population still does not have electricity.

5 Fatal Diseases Caused by Water Pollution.
Drinking clean water is significant to humans, however, its availability in different parts of the world has become a far-fetched goal, reason being the contamination caused due to water pollution.
This may result in diarrhoea, dehydration and sometimes even death.
It is spread due to poor sanitation, intake of contaminated water and unsafe food.
Its symptoms include vomiting, fever, headache, etc., and in critical cases, it can cause seizure, coma or sometimes even death of the person.
Its symptoms involve high fever, stomach pain, headache, weakness, constipation, loss of appetite, etc.
In several cases, it is one of the common diseases caused by water pollution and triggered by water-borne bacteria, viruses and protozoans.
Diarrhoea can be prevented by drinking clean water, improving sanitation and washing hands with soap.
In order to reduce the risk of spreading hepatitis, you need to wash hands after using the washroom and try to avoid consuming unsafe food and water.
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Investments in major chemical and manufacturing industries have been marked by industrial estates, especially in the Eastern Seaboard some 150 kilometers from Bangkok.
“The production and use of hazardous substances in the country has caused pollution as hazardous substances were released into the environment and may cause contamination or remain in the environment,” the PCD said.
Heavy metal pollution Marek Sir, a chemistry researcher from the University of Chemistry and Technology in the Czech Republic, said the studies indicated concerns over heavy metal pollution in areas near industrial plants.
“That’s a problem — still there are toxic fumes released into the environment and the easiest way to spread the pollution of heavy metals, which are absorbed on solid particles and they can diffuse into the air and can be transported.
The EARTH/ARNIKA report accused factory owners responsible for pollution of “uncaring management,” with the result of water pollution, toxic air pollution and hazardous industrial waste — especially those mismanaged and illegally dumped.
Cost of rehabilitation EARTH director Penchom said access to funding for land rehabilitation remains a major stopping block.
It’s very difficult to enforce the law for the polluters to pay,” she said.
Tara said policy often compromises the environment to the benefit to industry and development.
When we can see that the result from the toxic contamination in different regions in Thailand — also affects the community,” Tara told VOA.
The Pollution Control Department set out a strategic plan covering 2012-2021 calling for “rules and regulation amendments to facilitate effective waste management as well as strict enforcement of the laws.

Recycling: Time to dispose of hazardous wastes.
We’re hearing a lot about water pollution these days.
Residents of Cape Cod have the ability to minimize the volume of pollutants that could end up in our drinking water supplies simply by participating in their local Household Hazardous Waste Collection day.
Barnstable County’s Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, with funding through various towns, offers monthly collection days for residents to drop off unwanted paint items, yard chemicals, cleaning chemicals and auto fluids.
Is there a chemical cleaner of some undetermined age that’s been there a while?
How about oven or drain cleaner that you decided you didn’t like the smell of?
They’re all held at the easy access Harwich Transfer Station on Queen Anne Road.
Hazardous Waste Collection Days .
Held at Provincetown transfer station, 90 Race Point Road: 9 a.m. to noon on Oct. 7. .
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There is ample evidence that hazardous waste facilities, Superfund sites, sources of toxic air and water pollution, and other environmental nuisances are more likely to be located in poor and minority communities, and that these communities face disproportionate health risks as a result.
The EPA defines environmental justice as the “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” It was in 1994 that President Clinton issued an executive order in that directed the EPA and other federal agencies to integrate environmental justice considerations into their policies, programs and decision-making.
EJSCREEN provides information about the relationship between environmental risk and socioeconomic factors in local communities, providing officials (and the public) with a clear picture of vulnerabilities at different locations across the country.
In 2011, the EPA released its Plan EJ 2014, which was followed a few years later by EJ 2020 Action Agenda, a 5-year strategic plan for advancing environmental justice.
This also came into play when, for example, officials evaluated the costs and benefits of new regulations, monitored toxic pollutants outside refineries and set federal enforcement priorities.
The future of environmental justice policy at the EPA during the Trump administration is vulnerable to diminishment, if not outright reversal.
Most directly, the Trump administration has proposed to eliminate the Office of Environmental Justice.
Because major sources of pollution, such as power plants and oil refineries, tend to be located in poor and minority areas, any changes that result in more lax enforcement of environmental rules will disproportionately affect these communities.
At the same time, the Trump budget proposes cuts to the EPA’s grant programs to states, which will, in turn, weaken their enforcement capabilities to monitor pollution, carry out inspections or build legal cases against companies violating environmental laws.
This article was originally published on The Conversation.

Dartmouth College Installs ‘Pump And Treat’ System To Treat Water Contamination.
This weekend, residents of a Hanover neighborhood near a Dartmouth College hazardous waste site went to check out a system designed to clean up their groundwater.
The pump and treat system went online in early February.
It was designed specifically for the Hanover contamination of the chemical 1,4-dioxane, a probable carcinogen which has been found in local drinking water.
The chemical was left over from a mid-century hazardous waste burial site where Dartmouth research labs had previously dumped materials.
Currently, the system pumps over 1,400 gallons of contaminated ground water a day – but that will likely increase in the future.
Jim Weick is a water geologist and the manager overseeing the project.
He explained to neighbors how the $2 million system will work over the next five-plus years.
“It’s a filtration type of system,” Weick said on the Rennie Farm property recently.
“The media that is in it — a synthetic resin — passes through that material … [it] is capable of filtering out the 1,4-dioxane where it’s difficult for a lot of other media to do it.” Weick and Dartmouth are exploring the possibility of creating a second pump and treat system to mitigate the plume, which has reached about a mile away from the original waste site.