Corruption-ridden Texas city’s new woe: undrinkable water

On Friday, the city announced that cases of water were being delivered to the town’s elderly residents, adding that drinkable water would be made available to everyone.

Due to the water issues, the Crystal City Independent School District released students early on Thursday.

“We didn’t get a proper warning, they didn’t post anything or send out any type of message to warn the residents”. They didn’t post anything or warn the residents.

According to local news outlet KSAT, residents of the town of 7,500 found “black sludge” flowing from their faucets Wednesday night.

“This, in effect, caused all sediments and deposits sitting on lower portion of tank to run through distribution lines”, a press release release said.

Crystal City’s Facebook page, manned by an unknown city staffer, informed residents of the problem the following morning – and simply encouraged them to “boil water if necessary”.

The city calls itself “The Spinach Capital of the World”, holds an annual spinach festival and incorporates a picture of Popeye the Sailor, the spinach-chomping cartoon character, into the city logo.

If you ask me, whoever’s running the show down in Crystal City is getting a little heavy-handed with their end-of-days symbolism, but who am I to judge.

The problem began a day after the town’s mayor was accused of disrupting a City Council meeting while fighting a recall effort that began before his indictment in a public corruption investigation that also has ensnarled most of the council.

The federal indictment alleges that since past year, the officials used their positions “to enrich themselves by soliciting and accepting bribes from persons seeking to do business in Crystal City”.

City officials are blaming the fiasco on sediments inside an old water tower that has not been cleaned in decades. According to local news station KENS, Rodriguez admitted to being paid to transport undocumented immigrants on multiple occasions.

Joel Barajas – the only City Council member not facing criminal charges – told the San Antonio Express-News (http://bit.ly/1oB7udV ) that he was grateful to residents elsewhere in the region who donated water.