Whiskey is for drinking — water is for fighting over, Mark Twain supposedly said after observing battles over water rights in the West. If I lived in the Lake County areas affected by a recent water outage, I’d be one of those fighting.
I’d be fuming as a fireball. I’d be as mad as a wild turkey. I take my water seriously.
We all should, because we take for granted turning on our taps and expecting to see fresh water gush forth. Normally, as much as we want.
Except for about 1,200 homes in Hawthorn Woods, Kildeer and unincorporated Lake County, Forest Lake and the Glennshire subdivision, whose residents went a week without tap water. Homeowners were on a precautionary boil order from the morning of July 2 through at least July 11.
The reason was because Aqua Illinois, the private water provider for the areas, experienced difficulty with water delivery, Lake County Public Works officials reported.
“A number of factors — including current drought conditions, multiple leaks and main breaks, and increased holiday demand — created a unique situation that made it difficult for the system to regain pressure, despite Aqua Illinois’ best efforts,” the county agency said last week in a statement.
Without potable water, homeowners have sipped bottled water since July 3 from cases provided by the Aqua Illinois Utility Co., at the Hawthorn Woods Aquatic Center on Midlothian Road. The water situation appeared resolved Sunday, when the company reported the system had returned to normal operating pressures.
The boil order went into effect after the utility said there were three water main breaks which depleted the water supply and pressure dropped. It took a week to get it back.
Living without drinking water, or boiling tap water for at least five minutes before cooking, washing, drinking or brushing one’s teeth must be akin to living in some portions of Ukraine in the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War. Like those areas south of the Dnieper River after Russians blew a hydroelectric dam in place last month and flooded those residing downstream.
That’s because fresh water is an essential need, a resource we’ve been cavalier about for decades. A U.S. government study released at the peak of the boil order in the Ela Township communities said drinking water from nearly half of U.S. faucets likely contains “forever chemicals.”
Those chemicals — synthetic compounds known collectively as PFAS — are contaminating drinking water to varying degrees in private wells and public systems, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The federal report adds to previous scientific findings that the chemicals are widespread, showing up in consumer products as diverse as nonstick pans, food packaging and water-resistant clothing, and making their way into water supplies.
Such studies should worry us because many of us in Lake County and much of the Chicago region have Lake Michigan supplying our daily water requirements. Yet, we should continue to work to protect our inland sea.
Having the Big Lake as an unlimited water source may be something those homeowners drinking bottled water the past week may want to investigate in the future. Lindenhurst officials, to residents’ delight, finally jumped into providing Lake Michigan water a few years ago, replacing the village’s system of deep wells, whose aquifer levels were dropping.
Indeed, Aqua Illinois officials suspected drought conditions were playing a role when they issued a conservation alert, asking customers to conserve water. Workers found leaks in commercial properties on July 3, but other leaks began to occur, which did not allow the system to re-pressurize properly, according to a statement from Aqua, also provides water and water reclamation services to other state locations, including the counties of Boone, Champaign, Cook, Dekalb, DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, Knox, McHenry, Ogle, Vermilion, Will and Winnebago.
The water issue in Lake County is similar to others which have vexed several Cook County communities. South Suburban Dixmoor has dealt with water troubles, main breaks, shut-offs and boil orders for years. During Lake County’s boil order, west suburban Elmhurst also had a similar warning.
For Lake County residents parched the past week without tap water, there is light at the end of the tunnel. If water samples tested by the county’s state-certified laboratory confirm they are free of coliform bacteria, then the boil order will be lifted for these areas, perhaps by July 11.
That’s news those homeowners will drink to.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
Twitter: @sellenews
