All 3,500 residents of Dixmoor were without water Thursday after two major water main breaks forced the shutdown of the villagewide system, a village spokesman said.
Officials said Thursday night repairs were made but a boil order would still be in place until water quality can be tested.
The village on Wednesday issued a boil order for residents of the Modern Estates mobile home park, 14001 Western Ave., due to low water pressure.
At some point Thursday, however, two breaks left the entire village without water, spokesman Travis Akin said.
“Water service is back up and running in Dixmoor, but at the moment pressure is low while we wait for the water tank to refill,” Village President Fitzgerald Roberts said in a statement late Thursday. “There is a boil water order in effect until further notice. We will continue to make water available for residents at Village Halls for residents who need it.”
The statement said a state of emergency remains in effect, and water would be available at Village Hall, 170 W 145th St. in Dixmoor, beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Friday.
The two water main breaks were located at 141st Street and Woods Street and at 143rd and Davis and Spaulding Streets, Akin said.
The decision to turn off the water is based on how much water was being lost from the water tank and concerns about burning up the village’s water pumps.
Food and water were being made available at Dixmoor Village Hall, 170 W. 145th St., and the number there is 708-389-6121. Akin said he did not know whether water or food would be available after business hours.
Village officials were also working with Thornton Township to get emergency water to the village, Akin said.
On the Facebook page Dixmoor Deserves Better, former village trustee Cynthia Mossuto said she went to Village Hall seeking water to distribute to seniors in the village and was given one case of bottles, and had purchased other water to hand out.
Last October, Dixmoor homes and businesses were without clean drinking water following a water line break, and the issue wasn’t resolved until the beginning of November.
This past April, village and other officials announced a $2 million project, funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will result in a new water line that will replace an aging line and help improve water flow to homes. The corps will oversee the project, with construction getting started by spring of next year.
When water pressure dropped last October, Dixmoor initially pointed the finger at Harvey, which it buys Lake Michigan water from, and Harvey officials insisted the problem was in Dixmoor.
Ultimately, a leak in a water line in Dixmoor that was gushing hundreds of gallons a water a minute was identified as the culprit.
This past March, before the announcement of the new infrastructure project, Dixmoor residents were again under a boil order for a few days following a water main break.
The work being done by the corps includes 3,600 feet of 12-inch-diameter water line that will run under Interstate 57 and could be completed within a year once construction gets underway.
Akin noted that Dixmoor, like many older Chicago south suburbs, has an aging water system prone to breaks.
“It’s an old system and needs to be updated and that’s part of the long-term solution,” he said.