With 50-60 percent of Puerto Rican residents still without power, one Boston-based group is working to bring water filtration systems to the island that was ravaged by tropical storms earlier this fall.
The Latino Law Enforcement Group of Boston, has continued to contribute to outreach and advocate for more support for the island’s residents. The group — which is made up of Latino law enforcement officers, civilian personnel and other community members — is currently concerned for the island because of the scarcity of clean drinking water. This issue has motivated the group to mobilize the community in providing Puerto Ricans with makeshift drinking water filtration systems, according to a press release from the group.
Izzy Marrero, chair of LLEGO Boston, said the group has focused in on this issue due to the health risks it poses to the storm-swept community.
“The problem of contaminated water is a huge health issue in Puerto Rico,” Marrero said. “Many people have already lost their lives because of the consumption of contaminated water.”
Marrero said bottled water is not getting to Puerto Rico fast enough so they have created their own system which is now being implemented on the island — $100 gravity-based water filtration devices that can clean about 8,000 gallons of water.
“The new filtration system in Puerto Rico being built by LLEGO Boston is a system that doesn’t require electricity at all,” Marrero said. “It takes 20 minutes to filter five gallons of water.”
Marrero said the whole island has felt, and will continue to feel, the impact of limited access to potable water, including the country’s farmers, who are at a loss to provide their livestock with necessary nourishment.
In an effort to address these major concerns for the island, nine members of LLEGO Boston — all Boston Police Officers — are currently deployed in Puerto Rico providing on the ground assistance, according to the release.
Marrero said a police officer’s job is more than just locking people up, but working to aid communities in need.
“Part of our job is to protect and serve,” Marrero said. “As police officers we should be able to offer help and we stepped up and answered the call.”
In addition to the efforts made by LLEGO Boston, The Boston Foundation’s Massachusetts United for Puerto Rico Fund has also continued with relief efforts — financially supporting organizations who do critical work to help with the relief, recovery and relocation of Puerto Ricans.
Ted McEnroe, a spokesperson for The Boston Foundation, wrote in an email the fund has raised well over $2 million, and has released some of its first grants. The fund plans to release further grants over the course of the next year, he said, focusing on long-term aid.
“This pace is intentional, as it is designed to provide more than just immediate relief,” McEnroe said. “A disaster of this magnitude will take years of recovery effort.”
Several Boston residents said since the people of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens, it is the responsibility of the federal government to treat the residents of the island with the same care as any other U.S. citizens.
Maria Jimenez, 38, of East Boston, said the people who remain in Puerto Rico are in critical conditions because most of the infrastructure is non-existent and therefore require continued aid from the U.S.
“I believe the United States can continue to help by providing basic needs for its people such as bottled water, food and medical supplies [and] medications for survival,” Jimenez said.
Jessica Smith, 44, of Fenway, said Puerto Ricans need help from the federal government to fix the damage left over by the storms.
“I believe it is still the responsibility of our government to support the recovery of any of our American territories,” Smith said. “To reduce the pain and suffering of the people is the humanitarian thing to do.”
Smith said she commends the groups sending individuals to Puerto Rico to help in rebuilding the island, and believes their efforts will expedite the recovery process.
“I believe sending professionals in various fields to provide services and assistance in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure will facilitate what will be a painstaking and lengthy process at best,” Smith said.
Vivian Fernandez, 50, of Jamaica Plain, said the U.S. government assists many countries around the world and therefore should assist their own territories.
“We give many millions of dollars to countries all over the world,” Fernandez said. “We can certainly give that same assistance to our own Puerto Rico American citizens.”
