Toxic chemicals in Puerto Rican tap water linked to coal ash from energy firm, study says

Toxic chemicals and heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and uranium have been found in the drinking water of the Puerto Rican towns of Guayama and Salinas, according to a recent analysis from the Puerto Rico Chemists Association, which the group says come from coal ash produced by an energy company on the south side of the island.

“The people have a right to know what they are drinking,” said Dr. Osvaldo Rosario, a former professor of environmental chemistry for 38 years at the University of Puerto Rico and an advisor to a Chemists Association special committee studying the impact of the coal ash.

Researchers took tap water samples in March and August from five homes in different neighborhoods and one government water well. They also detected manganese, cobalt, chrome, molybdenum, nickel, strontium and vanadium — all minerals found in the coal ash of Applied Energy Systems, a company that burns coal to generate electricity in Guayama.

“Those compounds are exactly the compounds that appear in coal ash. That is the fingerprint of the coal ash,” said Luis Cordero, former president of the Puerto Rico Chemists Association who also belongs to the special committee.

Rosario added that there could be “bio-accumulation” — where contaminants accumulate in the body over time — as well as certain populations, such as children and sick or immunocompromised people, that could be particularly vulnerable. And the chemicals in combination can also aggravate each other’s harmful effects, the scientist said.

“The ash that remains at the bottom of the burning has a whole series of compounds that are toxic and carcinogenic,” said Rosario.

While the two men emphasized that the levels of individual chemicals found in the tap water supply don’t exceed national safety limits, they pointed to studies that show that the combination of chemicals, even in low quantities, can harm human health.

“The regulations are not written for mixtures of compounds,” Rosario said. “It has been difficult for agencies to establish safe levels for mixtures of compounds.”

The findings were revealed at a press conference on Sept. 29 at the headquarters of the chemists’ association. The research joins a growing body of studies and investigations that examine the potential impact of the coal ash produced by AES in Puerto Rico, including an analysis requested by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Two nearby communities have a higher prevalence of respiratory and skin illnesses compared to two communities in the town of Fajardo, far away from the AES plant, according to a 2016 study conducted by the University of Puerto Rico’s Graduate School of Public Health. The prevalence of having chronic bronchitis in Guayama was five times higher and seven times higher for skin hives, the researchers found.

In response to the Puerto Rico Chemists Association study, AES said it followed all legal regulations and industry standards, and that its priority was worker and community safety.

“Our operations are highly regulated and continuously audited by numerous local and federal agencies, making us a model in safe and reliable power generation,” said Samuel Arroyo-Arzuaga, spokesperson for AES Puerto Rico, referring questions to published company reports.

He also emphasized that the company is committed to transitioning toward renewable and clean energy sources as quickly as possible.

Community resistance against AES

AES’ coal-fired power plant in Guayama began operations in 2002, generating electricity for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. Over the past two decades, AES has deposited coal ash byproducts in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, as well as the continental United States.

The company also stockpiles a mountain of a byproduct made of water and ash near the facility that was about 49 feet tall and weighed about 118,000 tons in 2020, according to AES reports.

When rain falls over the ashes, the substance dissolves, the precipitation seeps through the terrain, reaching the aquifer, Rosario explained.

The depositing of ashes in Puerto Rico has provoked a fierce backlash from local communities, environmental activists and experts. Protests have erupted on the island in recent years, including in the southwestern town of Peñuelas, where AES has deposited ash in landfills, as well as at the Governor’s Mansion in San Juan.

“AES has never assumed its responsibility for the pollution and the health of the people who live near the plant, who are very sick. People are dying next to AES and here the government looks the other way,” said Victor Alvarado Guzmán, a founding member of the Comité Dialogo Ambiental de Salinas, an environmental organization based in Salinas that has been actively involved in the grassroots battle against AES.

Demands for government action

The Chemists Association of Puerto Rico has held two symposiums on the coal ash produced by AES in Puerto Rico. And now, the scientists aim to study the effects of another kind of contamination the plant produces: fine dust and gases. They also hope to expand studies of the impact of the ashes in other regions of Puerto Rico, including Peñuelas.

“As long as those ashes are there, the threat will continue, it will continue to contaminate more and more of this water ... out of sheer greed, for not properly disposing of the ashes,” said Rosario.

The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority never gave access to the chemists’ group to wells, Cordero said. They never received a response to their letters asking for access, while the government’s Environmental Quality Board referred them back to the water authority, Cordero said. He added that the executive director of the water authority told him the letters had not reached her office. The scientists consider the study “exploratory” and sent the results to the government so they can build on their work.

“We are giving them the data so that they can move to do it. Now they have a reason to do it. They can no longer be ignorant and not do the work. They have to do it,” Rosario said.

In January 2020, then Gov. Wanda Vázquez signed a law that prohibited the dumping of coal ash on all roads, terrains, landfills, and water systems on the island. However, ash deposits remain in Puerto Rico.

Community leaders like Alberto Colón, who lives only a mile from the AES plant, want the coal-burning power generator closed and the ashes cleaned up in his community. He told the Miami Herald that he suffers from sinusitis, and has witnessed how his community has gotten sicker and sicker throughout the years.

“We are heading towards the fact that the aquifer is going to be contaminated in its entirety and harm everyone’s health,” Colón said.