Puerto Rico, USVI to receive $108 million to upgrade water systems
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will receive a total of nearly $108 million to improve drinking water infrastructure across the U.S. territories.
Puerto Rico is slated to get $62 million and the U.S. Virgin Islands nearly $46 million.
The money is part of a push by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to improve drinking water systems and remove lead pipes.
Federal officials said Congress appropriated an additional $6 billion for water projects in U.S. states and territories as part of the $550 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that Biden signed in November 2021.
Officials said the money will target disadvantaged communities. Puerto Rico, an island of 3.2 million people, has a 46% poverty rate. The U.S. Virgin Islands, a three-island territory of 87,000 people, has a poverty rate of nearly 20%.
Related News
From Archive
- NTSB publishes preliminary report on fatal gas pipeline explosion in Lexington, Mo.
- 290-mile gas pipeline expansion proposed across Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina
- Ripple Fiber breaks ground on $140 million project, expanding into central Mass.
- City of Albuquerque halts fiber optic construction in response to damage, complaints
- Body retrieved day after fatal trench collapse at Bakersfield, Calif., job site
- Gehl and Mustang offer world’s largest skid loader
- Growing Pains and Gains
- Authorities investigating trench collapse that killed worker in Ashburn, Va.
- City of Albuquerque halts fiber optic construction in response to damage, complaints
- Pasadena, Calif., undergrounding project could take 500 years to finish
Comments