DIXMOOR, Ill. (WLS) — Two south suburban schools were unable to open Monday due to a series of water main breaks.
Chopper 7 HD captured a video of crews working on repairs in Dixmoor on Monday afternoon.
SEE ALSO | Village of Dixmoor receives $2M to help solve water issues
By Monday night water was once again flowing through Dixmoor’s faucets, and the tiny community’s water tower is nearly full again, with nearly 20,000 gallons. But keeping it that way has been something like carrying water in a sieve.
“Since Friday we’ve had five major breaks out here,” said Village President Fitzgerald Roberts.
Sunday’s water main break that closed Martin Luther King Elementary and Rosa Parks Middle School also left more than 1,000 families without water.
Roberts recognizes it’s a serious problem, and the village is fixing it one patch at a time. And they’re having to scramble more frequently; the same thing happened at least twice in July.
RELATED | Dixmoor remains under boil notice after 2 water main breaks repaired, village officials say
The infrastructure is old, likely more than 100 years old, and can’t keep up. Cook County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will pitch in $2 million to the village for repair work that starts in Ocotber. For now, they’ll hope Monday’s patches will hold.
Both schools will be open as normal Tuesday.
Copyright © 2022 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
