MARLIN, Texas — A longtime Marlin resident says city repairs made her water worse, turning it brown and unsafe, as the community continues to face widespread water issues.
- Marlin residents are reporting brown, murky water coming from their faucets after city repairs.
- Karla Smith says a leak outside her home has gone unfixed for nearly a year despite multiple work orders.
- The city claims major leaks have been repaired and improvements to the water plant are complete.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“This is horrible, nothing like this has ever happened,” said Marlin resident Karla Smith.
As the city of Marlin continues to face ongoing water issues, neighbors are now reaching out to 25 News — sharing these disturbing images and videos of brown, murky water coming from their faucets.
“This is the first time we have had water the color of coffee,” said Smith.
25 News spoke on the phone with longtime resident Karla Smith.
She shared photos of this leak that’s been outside her home since last Fall — telling me she's submitted at least four work orders to the city.
But she says it wasn’t until this week that crews finally came out — only to make things worse.
“My frustration with this is that they supposedly came out to fix it and just left it like it was. They just left it so much worse,” said Smith.
Karla says the brown water only started appearing after city workers attempted to fix the leak.
Since then, she says she’s reached out to the city multiple times — but hasn’t received a response.
Leaving her and her family feeling hopeless.
“We have a grandson that’s visiting us and we can’t bathe him in that nasty water. I’m afraid for him to even be near that water because I don’t want him to ingest any at all,” said Smith.
Earlier this week, the city of Marlin issued a statement saying crews have repaired more than four major leaks so far, with more to fix.
They also say improvements at the water treatment plant are complete -- for increasing water flow throughout the city.
The city of Marlin is currently under a boil water notice and stage four drought contingency plan.
