Hon. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares
Gobernador
Ottmar Chavez Piñero
Administrador

PRESS RELEASE

General Services Administration clarifies situation regarding bottled water in
Ceiba
San Juan (Wednesday, September 12, 2018) - The Administrator of the General Services
Administration (GSA), Ottmar Chávez, stated that "the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) reported that it had an excess of bottled water in May 2018, before I became the agency´s
Administrator. The GSA requested that excess water inventory from FEMA through the United
States General Services Administration (GSA) Surplus Property program. In total, it claimed about
20,000 pallets of bottled water that the federal government reported having in excess”.
"These bottles were claimed by ASG in May 2018 for delivery to municipalities, agencies and
various entities. The delivery that included 12 municipalities and WIPR was initiated. After having
delivered more than 700 pallets, ASG received several complaints about the smell and taste of the
water received from FEMA. For example, the Municipality of Barceloneta and the Corporation for
Public Dissemination expressed these complaints," Chávez added.
"In light of this, we have been in contact with FEMA and the Department of Health to test the water
inventory received by the federal agency. We are going to return those waters to the US GSA
inventory," the ASG Administrator stated.
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Contact:
Lcdo. Ramón Alejandro Pabón, MBA
Cel. 787-502-5023
E. lcdo.ralejandro@gmail.com

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Ave. Barbosa, Esq. Quisqueya, Hato Rey

∙ PO Box 195568, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919-5568