Marlin: Boil order lifted after leaks interrupted water service

A citywide boil order issued Tuesday in Marlin after leaks in a 12-inch water main interrupted service was lifted Friday.

Marlin schools were closed Wednesday after the main break left parts of the city without water service and crews worked to repair a second break discovered early Wednesday morning that resulted in more outages.

Mindful of the crisis that left the city without water service for weeks in 2015, some residents expressed heightened concern about the latest loss of service.

"What happened in 2015 was a water plant issue, it was not a water line issue, we have water line breakage every week, this just happened to be one of the main ones that comes through the city," Marlin Mayor John Keefer said.

A catastrophic failure at the water plant on Thanksgiving Day 2015 resulted in a week without water for the small town and nearly two months of boil orders.

"The plant is operating the way it should be, so as long as we can get the water out to you and continue to repair the lines that do break, the confidence should be there," said Keefer.

The latest outage affected several Marlin restaurants including Dairy Queen, which reopened Wednesday evening after closing for several hours around noon.

However, not all entities can simply close; the Falls County Jail had to bring in portable toilets for inmates and employees.

The Marlin Volunteer Fire Department sent a tanker to the jail from which water for uses other than drinking, 5,000 gallons worth, was pumped into the building.

The sheriff’s office purchased bottled water to drink.

(Rissa Shaw contributed to this story)