Leading Democrat calls for Puerto Rico water investigation

[DonViejo]

Source: CNN




By Kevin Bohn, CNN

Updated 6:18 AM ET, Sun October 15, 2017

Washington (CNN)A leading House Democrat has asked the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the water situation in Puerto Rico after a published report that people were drinking water taken from a federally designated hazardous-waste site.

The request comes a day after a story from CNN's John Sutter concerning workers from the Puerto Rican water utility Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados distributing water from a well at the Dorado Groundwater Contamination Site. The site was listed in 2016 as part of the federal Superfund program for hazardous water cleanup.

Many Puerto Ricans have been struggling to find clean drinking water since September 20 after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, home to 3.4 million people.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote a letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke asking for the investigation. Thompson, from Mississippi, said he wanted to know whether she was aware Americans there are drinking water from possibly contaminated sources.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/14/politics/puerto-rico-superfund-water-thompson/index.html

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[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. I cannot believe what I'm reading!! This is outrageous...

We need to help these poor people.

[Igel]

2. Yes.

Thing is, the water they were being provided was being provided by the water authorities.

Not FEMA. The local government monopoly.

The investigation will have to deal with the following question: If the Superfund sites were public knowledge, why did local authorities not only allow, but actually do the pumping of water from there?

Now, the real problem is that PR's water's been pretty tainted for decades. It's failed test after test. And it's been government-provided for that time. Government monitoring government.

In the case of water supply, "helping these people" would be stripping them of local autonomy. Do that and the immediate cry is "colonialism!"

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

3. Time is WAY overdue for the U.S. government to step in...

Somehow, I doubt "Little Hitler" will do a damn thing.