Governor Greg Abbott on May 4th, announced that he issued a disaster declaration for Falls County after catastrophic failure to the City of Marlin’s public water system led to water outages and a boil water notice for the community. 

 “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."

At the Governor’s direction, the Texas Division of Emergency Management has: 

• Delivered 20 pallets of bottled drinking water for local distribution
• Contracted for potable water tankers to supply clean drinking water
• Deployed regional field staff who remain tied in with local officials to address response and recovery efforts
• Mobilized the Texas A&M Public Works Response Team to assist local officials with diagnosing operational issues.

Additionally, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is engaged and providing technical assistance on water system restoration.