Aqua Illinois issued a boil order Sunday for University Park and the Green Garden section of Monee because of rapid thaw and heavy rains last week.
David Carter, Aqua Illinois president, said Monday Aqua officials are testing the water as required by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Following the testing period, Carter said he hopes the water boil will end Wednesday morning.
“We are extremely sensitive to the significant inconvenience that a boil advisory causes our residents and customers, but out of abundance of caution and Illinois EPA rules we’re required to do this testing,” Carter said. “We want to make sure that we complete it as quickly as we can to lift the boil advisory as quickly as possible.”
As a result of the rapid thaw and heavy rains affecting the Kankakee River, Aqua’s water source, the water system experienced operational challenges that “resulted in temporarily exceeding the turbidity regulatory limit,” according to the boil order Aqua issued.
Aqua monitors water for turbidity, or cloudiness, which indicates if the water is effectively filtered, according to the order. On Saturday, a sample found levels of up to 3.1 turbidity units, which is above the standard of 1 turbidity unit, according to the order.
“The severe icing that took place and then the thaw, there’s big chunks of ice that are moving through the Kankakee River, pulling up debris from both the bottom of the river and off the banks of the river, and all that debris is what creates these high turbidity situations,” Carter said. “The levels coming in become problematic.”
Trustee Theo Brooks said he received an automatic message about the boil order Sunday night and immediately thought: “Here we go again.” Since Monday morning, Brooks said he’s been more cautious to use bottled water when cooking and for personal hygiene.
“It’s had me on edge since this morning,” Brooks said.
Carter said following the 3.1 turbidity level reading, Aqua officials will have to conduct two rounds of testing. Aqua officials collected samples Sunday afternoon and put the samples into an incubator for 18 hours. starting at 1:30 a.m. Monday, to test for bacteria, he said.
Aqua officials planned to collect more water samples Monday afternoon and put them into the incubator by 10 p.m., Carter said. With the completion of the second test Monday night, Carter said the hope is to lift the water boil order Wednesday morning.
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“We know that we maintained chlorine levels in the plant throughout the high turbidity incident. We know that we’ve had chlorine residuals that are at acceptable levels throughout our distribution system,” Carter said.
Turbidity can interfere with disinfection and may indicate the presence of disease causing organisms, according to the order, which can cause symptoms like nausea, cramps, diarrhea and headache. During a boil order, residents should let water boil for five minutes and let if cool before using it, according to the order.
After the boil order was issued, Crete-Monee Unit District 201 posted the water boil information on its Facebook page. At Coretta Scott King Magnet School and Crete-Monee Middle School, water dispensers and water refill jugs were available, and District 201-U officials encouraged students to bring water bottles to school.
Governors State University also informed its community about the order. The school remained open Monday, but students and staff were advised not to drink or refill water bottles from water fountains, officials said.
In 2019, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow filed a lawsuit against Aqua for allegedly not providing “safe drinking water” to University Park residents.
The lawsuit accuses Aqua of failing to provide safe drinking water, failing to comply with monitoring and sampling requirements, violating construction and operating permit requirements and creating a public nuisance.
In October, Raoul and Glasgow filed a consent order to end the lawsuit saying Aqua consecutively met the state lead action levels. The case is still moving through the legal system as a judge has not yet accepted the consent order.
The University Park Village Board was to meet in a special closed session Monday afternoon to discuss the Aqua lawsuit.
“Everyone is on edge with the boil order,” Brooks said. “Aqua is a nightmare.”