The Environmental Protection Agency has hired contractors to repair fencing around a federally designated, hazardous waste site and “local security is stationed at the wells to prevent access,” the agency said, after reports surfaced that residents — desperate for drinking water — were taking water from a toxic well.
The utility was reportedly unaware that the site was contaminated until CNN contacted it with Superfund maps.
But almost a month after Hurricane Maria struck the island, more than 35 percent of the island’s residents still lack access to safe drinking water.
“It’s been nearly one month since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, and yesterday, official numbers on drinking water access inexplicably declined from 72 percent to 65 percent,” Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter said in a statement Wednesday.
Removal sites require immediate, short-term responses to protect people from immediate threats posed by hazardous waste sites but have not been designed as Superfund sites. The EPA said late Tuesday it has successfully assessed a total of 28 Superfund sites or removal sites in Puerto Rico.
A month after Maria, 82% of Americans in Puerto Rico have no power, 35% no water.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) noted, “a month after Maria, 82 percent of Americans in Puerto Rico have no power, 35 percent no water.