An emergency fiscal court meeting was held in Martin County on Wednesday, January 10, 2018, to notify residents of water outages. The water will be turned off between 6 and 7pm, then turned back on in the mornings. At the meeting, the Martin County Judge Executive Kelley Callaham declared a state of emergency due to the water shortages. The Martin County Water District released a statement apologizing for the inconvenience, but it is necessary to avoid water outages for the entire county. They said turning off the pump stations was necessary to prevent damage to motors, which can happen when water levels are too low. Turning off the pumps will allow the stations time to build back a water supply. Emergency Management will be giving out water at the Tug Valley Sanitation plant in Warfield.