Yet more grim news is trickling out on the environmental and humanitarian catastrophe brought about by Hurricane Maria after it barreled through Puerto Rico at 155 mph 1month ago. Twenty of the islands 55 sewage plant's pumping stations remain out of service due to lack of diesel for generators according to ABC news. The sewage has to go somewhere and Puerto Rico’s lakes and rivers are taking in the raw sewage threatening the entire water supply of the island with contamination as all of these plants are generator dependent and they do not run forever.
EPA staff are doing great work, but they are as understaffed and leaderless as FEMA. Scott Pruitt, head of the Trump’s EPA, has not sent sufficient numbers of scientists and other needed resources to the island for testing the water, reviewing hazardous sites and preventing environmental calamity.
Michael Melia, of the AP reports on the reservoir’s sewage crisis.
People in the U.S. can't comprehend the scale and scope of what's needed," said Drew Koslow, an ecologist with the nonprofit Ridge to Reefs who recently spent a week in Puerto Rico working with a portable water purification system.
EPA officials said that of last week they still had not been unable to inspect five of the island's 18 Superfund sites — highly contaminated toxic sites targeted for cleanup because of risks to human health and the environment — including the former U.S. Navy bombing range on the island of Vieques.
"I just wish we had more resources to deal with it," said Catherine McCabe, the EPA deputy regional administrator.
Puerto Rico has a long history of industrial pollution, and environmental problems have worsened due to neglect during a decade-long economic crisis. A dozen over-packed landfills remain open despite EPA orders to close them because local governments say they don't have the money.
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One of Puerto Rico's biggest treatment plants discharges into a river that feeds Lake Carraizo, a reservoir that provides drinking water for half of the metropolitan San Juan area. Several of the plant's pumping stations remain out of service due to lack of diesel for generators, leaving sewage running into the lake.
"We're not going anywhere near it," resident Edwin Felix, 46, said, nodding toward the greenish brown river coursing past his hillside home.
That puts an extra strain on the filtration plants that give a final treatment to the water reaching the capital.
Officials say running water has been restored to 72 percent of the island's people. The water authority says it's safe to drink, though the health department still recommends boiling or disinfecting it.
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Islanders also have been urged to avoid drinking or touching surface waters such as lakes or rivers, particularly after a deadly outbreak of suspected leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread by animals' urine.
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In the southern coastal city of Guayama, residents long have protested the dumping of a several-story-high mountain of coal ash on the grounds of nearby power plant. The pile looks intact after the hurricane, but many fear the winds and flooding could have sent coal ash laced with heavy metals into adjacent neighborhoods.
A righteous rant on Scott Pruitt and the GOP.
x xYouTube VideoDonation Links for Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Caribbean wide. (courtesy of bfitzinAR)
h/t to belinda ridgewood.
And still need signatures on the Petition to FedEx to offer reduced rate for supply packages to PR & USVI (link from DOV tweet)
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Puerto Rico’s water supplies in better days.
x xYouTube Video