Massive stockpile of H20 found on isle a year after Maria

About a million cases of FEMAprovided water have sat untouched on a tarmac in Puerto Rico for nearly a year while residents died from a lack of access to clean drinking water.

Photographer Abdiel Santana, who works for a Puerto Rican police agency, said he first saw the massive stockpile of water (photo) on a runway in Ceiba last fall.

When he returned on a recent trip, it was still there, so he took pictures — which have since been shared widely on the internet.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed to CBS that it had delivered the water to the island, and then handed it over to the central government. It’s unclear where exactly the breakdown in communication occurred.

Marty Bahamonde, director of disaster operations at FEMA, said the agency didn’t track where the water went.

FEMA is investigating whether or not the agency left the water bottles on the airport runway, according to the report.

Carlos Mercader, the executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal affairs Administration, said in a statement that the water bottles were not handed over to the government of Puerto Rico for distribution, and that the government was only made aware of the “excess” water supply in April.

FEMA gave the water bottles to the General Services Administration on April 26, according to Mercader’s statement, after which the Puerto Rican government began its distribution efforts.

More than 700 pallets of water were delivered to at least four different municipalities between the end of May and mid-August, according to the statement.

The municipality of Barceloneta, which received a shipment of water, reported it had a foul odor and bad taste, at which point the government ceased distribution.