Let's look at Puerto Rico. The water situation there was unacceptable -- the worst in the nation -- even before Hurricane Maria in 2017. An analysis by my organization, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), showed that almost all of Puerto Rico's residents in 2015 got their water from systems that violated the Safe Drinking Water Act and nearly 70 percent of them got their tap water from sources contaminated with coliform bacteria, disinfection by-products, and more.

Maria created a full-blown humanitarian crisis. People had no choice but to get their drinking water from toxic sources, and scores ended up in emergency rooms with gastrointestinal illnesses. Even now, more than a year after the storm, Puerto Ricans are still warned to boil water before drinking it.