Disaster declared in Falls County as Marlin water system failure prompts emergency response

Marlin, Texas – The City of Marlin in Falls County is facing a serious water crisis after a failure of the city’s public water system caused widespread outages and triggered a boil water notice for residents. In response to the growing emergency, Governor Greg Abbott has officially issued a disaster declaration for Falls County to ensure the community receives the state support it urgently needs.

“Texas continues to provide assistance to the City of Marlin as the community faces water outages and a boil water notice,” said Governor Abbott. “To provide additional state support, I issued a disaster declaration for Falls County and directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to deliver clean drinking water and deploy regional staff to help impacted Texans. Texas will continue to monitor and assist the City of Marlin as the public water system is brought back online. I thank state and local officials for their efforts to support fellow Texans during this time.”

State Agencies Mobilize to Deliver Clean Water and Support Recovery

Following the Governor’s directive, the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) moved quickly to assist local residents. Their actions so far include:

• Delivering 20 pallets of bottled drinking water for local distribution to ensure affected residents have access to safe water.

• Contracting potable water tankers to provide additional clean drinking water as the local supply remains unreliable.

• Deploying regional field staff who are closely working with local officials to help guide response and recovery efforts.

• Mobilizing the Texas A&M Public Works Response Team, which is currently assisting city officials with identifying and resolving operational issues within the public water system.

In addition to the response from TDEM, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is also involved. The agency is providing technical assistance aimed at supporting the restoration of Marlin’s public water system to ensure safe and reliable service can be returned as soon as possible.

The disaster declaration, coupled with rapid state intervention, is intended to bring immediate relief to the Marlin community and speed up recovery efforts. Officials have assured residents that support will continue until the water crisis is resolved and normal services are fully restored.