In Storm-Ravaged Puerto Rico, Drinking Water in Short Supply

A man carries two water jugs filled with water collected from a natural spring created by the landslides in a mountain next to a road in Corozal, west of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on September 24, 2017 following the passage of Hurricane Maria.Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—A week after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, most of its 3.4 million residents are scrambling to find clean water, with experts concerned about a looming public health crisis posed by the island’s damaged water system.

On Tuesday, hundreds of people crowded around a government water tanker in the northeastern municipality of Canovanas with containers of every size and shape after a wait that for many had lasted days.