Target: Donald Trump, President of the United States
Goal: Declare Puerto Rico’s severe drought and water shortages an emergency.
Government-mandated water rationing, federally deployed water trailers, and home-grown water resilience hubs set up by desperate communities: these responses embody the stress and uncertainty wrought by Puerto Rico’s ongoing drought and water supply crisis. Record-shattering heat and dry weather have exacerbated and brought the crisis to a tipping point, as Puerto Rico becomes a harbinger of what may very shortly befall other American regions dependent on rapidly dwindling reservoirs. But critics charge government mismanagement of resources and funding have helped shape the crisis as well.
Critical issue number one is the island’s notoriously aging water infrastructures. Old and leak-prone pipes lose an estimated 60 percent of the water that passes through them before that water even reaches populations. Communication to the public regarding reservoir levels and planned rationing targets is also sparse. While corrective remedies like upgrading pipes and investing in rainwater harvesting have been proposed – and many of these proposals recommended by an expert committee who presented a detailed plan of action – few of these remedies have been translated into real policy.
Advocates have called for a federal emergency declaration that could facilitate help for this beleaguered American territory in tangible ways. Sign the petition below to support this call to action.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear President Trump,
“We get mad; we see this terrible thing that happened to Puerto Rico, we’re upset about it and then there’s new news. We turn the page and we don’t hear about it again until a new crisis hits Puerto Rico.” The Hispanic Federation’s Puerto Rico director recently made this blunt statement in response to the island’s water rationing crisis. The point is starkly clear, as citizens of this territory – American citizens – face years of lacking leadership at the local level and abandonment at the federal level. Water trailers are a good start, but they will not resolve the long-standing issues that will surely roll over into the next crisis.
Infrastructure that is leaking precious water needs to be upgraded and improved. Spotty data systems need to be publicized with up-to-date information. Investments in rainwater harvesting and other promising methods need to be made. And the federal government needs to demonstrate it has not forgotten the communities on the front lines of drastic weather patterns…as Puerto Rico’s fate could one day be the fate of drought-ravaged and water-deficient regions across the mainland.
Please support an emergency declaration and get the ball rolling on meaningful aid and reform.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: HypnoZ
