The McHenry County Health Department closed the beaches at Griswold Lake after a severed sewer line emptied several thousand gallons of raw sewage into the lake.
Griswold Lake, between Holiday Hills and Island Lake, was the second body of water subject to county health warnings this week. On Tuesday, the county warned residents about an outbreak of swimmer’s itch, a parasitic skin inflammation, in McCullom Lake, but did not close beaches there.
A private utility company installing fiber-optic cable near Griswold Lake cut the pressurized sewer line at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Patrick McNulty, director of environmental health. Sewage escaped into a surface water drain and traveled about 200 feet into the lake.
The health department closed the lake’s four beaches late Wednesday and later distributed fliers asking residents not to swim there.
The sewer line break was repaired early Thursday, but health department officials said they want to keep the lake closed until bacterial analysis shows it’s safe for swimming.
The first test results should be available Friday morning, McNulty said. Health officials want to see results from at least two consecutive days, so the earliest the beaches would be reopened would be Saturday.