Information supplied by Aqua Illinois
Aqua Illinois reports it has corrected the equipment malfunction at our Danville water treatment plant, caused by the extreme temperatures in the region over the past week. Our operations are stabilized - we’re seeing increased water pressure in our plant, in readings we’re taking across the system, and through feedback from our customers. We anticipate that pressure will continue to improve over the weekend.
We are still filling our reserves to increase pressure, which will take some time. We’re working on ways we can speed up the process and we ask customers to continue conserving water to help expedite our return to normal water levels.
Once water pressure increases to an acceptable level, we can begin the process of working with the Illinois EPA to lift the precautionary boil water notice in effect for a number of previously notified Danville customers.
A spokeswoman said the problem started on Friday. Due to rain, Aqua Illinois saw increased flow and organic matter in Lake Vermilion and the treatment facility. The rain was quickly followed by extremely cold temperatures, and the combination of turbid water and extreme cold created difficult treatment conditions. This severely strained the treatment facility and equipment and required Aqua to operate at lower production levels than normal to maintain water quality. Specifically, sections of the intake and parts of the softening/treatment tanks froze and were damaged.
The spokeswoman said water quality was never compromised but Aqua has been operating at lower flows than typical.
The number of areas under an advisory boil order has expanded to four areas. The areas include neighborhoods west of Lake Vermilion (including Denvale), the Winter Park and Holiday Hills areas, neighborhoods north of Boiling Springs Road, and areas south of Winter Street and east of Bowman Avenue, to the Indiana State Line. That includes the Eastgate area. Maps showing the areas can be found on the website aquawater.com. Customers in these areas should boil their water at least FIVE minutes before using, or use bottled water.
