August 29, 2025 - The City of Joaquin is currently running on water supplied by Logansport, LA., due to a contamination issue originating on Haslam Strip. Joaquin mayor Jessie Griffith has confirmed the issue and said that the ground was contaminated at a location near the truck stop and water being supplied by the city is safe to drink.
“That was a freshwater well, but the ground was contaminated due to that person that owned that property right beside the truck stop on Haslam Strip, it got some salt in the water,” said Mayor Griffith. “It was flowing and got through past the railroad tracks, but it’s nowhere close to the river. It got into a little creek and killed some of the little bream that were in the creek.”
Mayor Griffith explained that Joaquin water is currently shut off, because it operates out of a well, and to provide water to customers, water is being supplied to Joaquin from Logansport, and that doesn’t come from groundwater but is surface water from the river.
“The water is not contaminated, it’s safe to drink,” said Griffith. “We’ve been dealing with TCEQ (Texas Commissioner on Environmental Quality), the Railroad Commission and TDEM (Texas Division of Emergency Management) and all them but we’ve been making sure to keep all of our water shut off to make sure nobody got any bad water.”
Griffith explained that this situation has been ongoing since Tuesday, August 26, and water samples have been taken for evaluation and all precautions have been taken.
“We’re probably going to stay on Logansport water until Wednesday,” said Mayor Griffith. “There’s no need to panic, Joaquin’s not giving people bad water.”
Mayor Griffith said he is working with the Railroad Commission to hold the company responsible where the well leak came from.
Ryan Fuller, Joaquin ISD Superintendent, confirmed that the city has continued to provide them water for the school.
“Yesterday they were telling me that the water was being shut off in which if the water’s shut off then I have a very short period of time that I can keep this school going without water so, I called the mayor and he told me that they shut off the Joaquin wells and we were getting water from Logansport,” said Fuller.
TCEQ confirms they have received a report of an overflowing well in the area of Joaquin, Texas. TCEQ is coordinating with the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) who is leading the response to the event and will have the most up to date information.
TCEQ advises citizens with private wells interested in having their water tested to reach out to local water laboratories to ask for analysis options. A map of accredited drinking water laboratories is available on the TCEQ webpage here. TCEQ has also published GI-433 How to Sample Your Private Well Water for Microbial Contaminants. Additional resources for private well owners can be found on the Texas Groundwater Protection Committee’s Private Wells webpage here.
The Railroad Commission of Texas did not have any details available at the time of this report.
