BLACK, OILY WATER poured from taps in a small Texas city over the last few days after most of the city council were arrested on corruption charges.
Residents in Crystal City Texas reported foul-smelling, black water coming from the city’s water supply.
The water superintendent of the city said that it due to the city’s elevated tank being under renovations.
The problem with the water came as all but one of the city council’s officials were being investigated by the FBI over corruption charges.
The Mayor of the city, Ricardo Lopez and two council members were indicted this month in a federal bribery and conspiracy investigation, though one of the councilmen has since resigned.
There were reports this evening on the We Are Crystal City Facebook page that Lopez had also resigned.
Mayor Lopez was arrested at a council meeting on Tuesday night that he allegedly disrupted. The meeting was to do with him being recalled from his position of mayor.
Video from local television stations shows Lopez being handcuffed and put into a police car. Police Chief Jesus Lopez, who isn’t related to the mayor, said he was “inciting a riot” at the meeting.
Another council member was arrested in January on unrelated human smuggling charges, leaving only one member of Crystal City’s City Council not facing criminal charges.
‘There’s not really anyone in charge’
Schools in the city had to be let out early yesterday because of the water situation, according to the We are Crystal City Facebook page
The Crystal City Municipal Government has been handing out bottled water to concerned citizens of the city.
Thinkprogress.org states that the achool district superintendent Imelda Allen made the decision to close the schools.
“There’s not really anyone in charge to oversee and to make people aware of the condition of the water,” said Allen.
“So I wasn’t going to wait for anyone to call me from City Hall. I know that leadership is not present at the time.”
Comments have been disabled as a federal investigation is ongoing
With reporting from AP
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