Puerto Rico’s water woes raise fears of health crisis
Medical volunteers treat widespread symptoms
LOIZA, Puerto Rico – Massive damage to Puerto Rico’s water system from Hurricane Maria poses a looming health crisis for island residents exposed to contaminated water, health workers and environmentalists warn.
Doctors and nurses who traveled to Puerto Rico since the hurricane hit Sept. 20 said they treated widespread symptoms related to unclean water, ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to conjunctivitis ( pink eye), scabies and asthma. At least 74 suspected cases of leptospirosis, a dangerous bacteria, have been reported, including two deaths.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that it is testing suspected leptospirosis samples.
Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s office said 82% of the island’s water meters are now active, but many residents say that they still have no running water or that the water they have is unsafe.
Many people are still collecting water from mountain springs and creeks that run alongside roads. Some know they should boil this water, but others don’t.
Island health officials did not comment on the water and health issues.
Morovis Mayor Carmen Maldonado said that despite the governor’s claims, none of the 13 neighborhoods in her city has water service.
“The humanitarian crisis that so many speak of is what we are living daily in Morovis, while the AAA ( water utility) refuses to look for alternatives,” she said in a statement.
“We’re worried that in places even that have running water whether that water is safe,” said Erik Olson, health program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
His group reported in May that Puerto Rico’s water system had the worst record under the Safe Water Act, with 70% of the people living with water that violated standards set by the U. S. law. And now the situation is worse, Olson said. “The drinking water system in Puerto Rico was already very fragile,” he said. “When you lose water pressure, what can happen is if there’s groundwater contamination with sewage or flooding, that water can get into those pipes.”
In the coastal municipality of Loiza, municipal officials are providing water to 29,000 residents with tanker trucks and going house- to- house with bottled water, said Israel Morales Alicea, the town’s communications adviser.
Iricelis Ortiz, 42, said municipal officials have yet to pass through her neighborhood, so residents organized a committee to ask the city for what they need.
Ortiz worries that the bad- tasting, blue- colored water that runs in her pipes is unsafe. They had tried boiling it, but “it tasted weird,” Ortiz said.
Bottled water can be hard to find and gets expensive, said her aunt, Maria Ortiz, 66. “If you are lucky to find some, a pack of 24 water bottles that used to be $ 3.99 now is about $ 7.50,” she said.