Marion residents have water again Monday after going three days without access to clean running water.
A major system failure cut service to most residents on November 20, requiring the water system to get a part externally repaired.
The outage forced businesses to close, churches to cancel services, and left medically vulnerable residents, including seniors, nursing homes and dialysis patients, at significant risk.
State Senator Robert Stewart, D-Marion, called the situation a crisis and said it reflects decades of underinvestment in rural infrastructure across Alabama’s Black Belt.
“This could happen anywhere in the Black Belt,” Stewart said. “Rural communities with aging and neglected water systems are one malfunction away from disaster. We need urgent relief today, and we need long-term, sustainable investment.”
Numerous agencies and organizations have been working in Marion in response to the crisis.
The Alabama Emergency Management Agency has deployed bottled water and helped with distribution, the Alabama Department of Public Health is monitoring health and safety concerns, and Sowing Seeds of Hope, a local nonprofit, is serving as a primary water distribution site.
Stewart noted there will remain a need for bottled water for the time being as residents are under a “boil water” advisory as the system continues undergoing maintenance.
“We’re really going to have to rally behind Marion,” Stewart said. “It’s Marion today, someone else tomorrow; that’s the discussion we need to be having. It’s not about pointing fingers, but coalescing around Marion and the Black Belt at large.”
