Contaminated Water Supply Continues to Plague Puerto Rico

More than a month after Hurricane Maria reached Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 as a strong Category 4 hurricane, its catastrophic environmental effects continue to be felt as new problems complicate relief efforts. As of the middle of October 2017, approximately 35 percent of residents in Puerto Rico had no access to clean water. Relief teams began distributing water from a well at the Dorado Groundwater Contamination Site, which had been on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund list as recently as 2016. Although …

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Hurricane Maria Brings Expected Adverse Environmental Impact to Puerto Rico

In recent weeks, we’ve written about the documented environmental effects of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The recovery periods for those disasters will take substantial time, and even then the ramifications of those powerful hurricanes will be felt long after. Unfortunately, we have seen yet another natural disaster in Hurricane Maria — the destructive Category 4 storm that made landfall on the southern coast of Puerto Rico at around 6:15 AM EDT last Wednesday, since causing much havoc to the territory. As late as September 23, …

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