Water woes continue into third day for some Lake County residents
Some residents of Hawthorn Woods and Kildeer and several unincorporated parts of Lake County continued to have problems with their tap water Tuesday.
Some still didn't have any water at all.
A precautionary boil order remains in place, meaning the approximately 1,200 customers of the Aqua Illinois utility company should boil water for at least five minutes before using it for cooking, drinking, brushing teeth, making ice or washing dishes.
The company reported Tuesday morning that while water pressure improved overnight, increased demand Tuesday morning caused it to drop again below a safe level.
"We believe customers will continue to experience low pressure and outages today," spokesman Brittany Tressler said.
The company is distributing bottled water at the Hawthorn Woods Aquatic Center. It also urged people to use as little water as possible, to help the system regain safe pressure.
The problems began when a water hydrant leaked Sunday in Hawthorn Woods and were exacerbated by a water line break and overall low water supply due to the drought, according to the company.
On Monday night, the company reported that fewer than 10 customers were still without water service. But irate customers reported, on social media and to the Daily Herald, that hundreds were still without water.
Updates from Aqua are online at aquawater.com/service-alerts.php.
Aqua Illinois serves about 280,000 people in 14 counties, its website states. Its parent company, Pennsylvania-based Essential Utilities, serves 3.2 million people across eight states.
Precautionary boil orders are issued when water pressure drops below 20 pounds per square inch. Pressure lower than that can allow contaminants outside the water lines to enter the water system, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.