The city of Marlin regularly faces water issues, and one main concern from the state and city leaders is the lack of fire hydrants.
“The biggest thing with the water improvement projects is seeing more hydrants in place, that’s consistent water supply,” said City of Marlin Fire Chief Justin Parker during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“ Some of them are fed off of two-inch mains, and they don’t produce sufficient flow for any fire suppression activities. In fact, there are several apartment complexes that have no hydrants,” said Parker.
The issue even got the attention of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
TCEQ recently issued a violation for failure to flush water mains to maintain water quality.
The state says that on July 5th, 2023, the city was advised to flush the water main in front of the TDJC William P. Hobby Unit in Marlin. However, during an investigation that took place in July of this year, it was noted that the city had not flushed the fire hydrant in front of the jail for approximately six months.
A concern that was brought up during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
“ So do we plan to install some hydrants,” asked Marlin Mayor ProTem Debra McDavid.
“ They are actually included in the water development board project plans,” Parker said.
Although the city says it is making efforts to address the lack of fire hydrants throughout our community, the original July TCEQ notice says the city will have until November 1st to take corrective action, which includes submitting three consecutive months of flushing records showing that the hydrant in front of the hobby unit is being flushed at least monthly.
