Capitol Fax: “Chicago has more lead on average than Flint, Mich., during its 2015 water crisis”

Basically it started with testing of homes on Chicago's south side that has lead service lines connected with their homes. Check it out on CapFax

“Chicago has more lead on average than Flint, Mich., during its 2015 water crisis” https://t.co/FpHB716VNz

— Rich Miller (@capitolfax) August 21, 2019

As an added bonus, there are issues with lead in University Park as also seen in a posting at CapFax on Monday.

Water Main down just West of King Drive!

A couple of Tweets from the Alderman's office, at 3:30pm this afternoon:

A Water Main was hit in #Chatham, water service will be interrupted from 79th - 81st west of King Dr until Wed, call 311 for info

Reports are that the outage should not extend past Prairie but please let me know if your service is affected. service@6thwardchicago.com


More info when available.

You can also check the Alderman's Facebook page or Twitter feed.

Update (after talking with someone from the Dept. of Environment): The homes affected are on the 8000block of King Drive (possible 7900 & 8100 blocks). 200,000 gallons of water filled an excavation hole where 6 gas tanks had been removed.  The owner of the property wanted to make sure the extra possible contaminated dirt was removed, but miscommunication resulted in the water main being destroyed.

Residents can get emergency water today.  Call 311, or, if crews are still there, check in with them at the SW corner of 80th & King.  The plan is re-route the lines from other water mains, so that residents water will not be affected.  If you are able to run your water, then everything is fine (no worries about contaminated water). If it is not, then they are still working on it. Water won't be released into residents homes until safe.

For the actual repair, they have to drain the water from the pit, and only then can Department of Water crews fix the problem. The owner of the property will have to pay for that drainage (the crew at 5pm would take a week with their equipment).  That drainage will haul the water away, as it is unknown if it is contaminated. (Normal leaks would be drained into local sewage systems)

It's been a crazy 24 hours with this damage as well as yesterday's mishap with the dump truck, which took out power lines on the other side of King Drive.

Wards with most, fewest water meters

Sun-Times:

Fewer than one of every three Chicago homeowners has a water meter, which would ensure that they pay only for the water they use — and are able to lower their bill by reducing their consumption, even in the face of what have been steep rate hikes. Homeowners who don’t have a meter also have faced those same rate hikes, no matter how much water they use. They’re charged a flat fee for water based not on usage but on a century-old formula involving the width of their lot and the height of their house.

The result is that many people who don’t have meters pay more for water than their neighbors who do.

Most of those unmetered homes — including those of about half the city’s 50 aldermen — live on the Southwest Side or the Northwest Side, the bungalow belt.

At the link there is a listing of the 50 wards and where they sit as far as the percentage of homes that have water meters.

The 6th had only 20% of residences with a meter. 2,414 residents have a meter while 9,694 are without meters.

Chicago water: In public reports, city silent over sex hormones and painkillers found in treated drinking water

Well I hope that this finding by the Tribune doesn't cause a panic, the article doesn't say whether or not these substances are harmful to us in anyway.

City offers incentive for homeowners to get water meters installed

Clout St:

Some Chicagoans with homes built before the mid-1970s could get city water meters installed free with a guarantee their bills won't rise beyond regular rate increases for seven years.

The offer was approved by a City Council committee today as part of a $15 million test program called MeterSave.

It's aimed at owners of single-family and two-flat homes in the Bunaglow Belt---21 wards along the city's western edge---where up to 20,000 meters would be installed, Water Management Commissioner John Spatz Jr. said.

Most major U.S. cities have water meters on all homes, but Chicago has long been an exception because of its proximity to Lake Michigan. Six years ago, Mayor Richard Daley signaled a move to universal metering to boost conservation.

Ride with us aboard "PC1"

Last month we elected people to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. In this vid courtesy of the Northtown News Magazine we see one aspect of this lesser known governmental body. They are on board a boat that tests the water in the Chicago area.

Duration is about 30 minutes.

Water demand could increase 64 percent by 2050

From the Business Ledger:

Water shortages loom on the horizon for the Chicago area unless businesses and government agencies plan effectively, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) says in a report.

Demand for water in 11 counties of northeastern Illinois could increase as much as 64 percent by mid-century, creating potentially serious shortages, according to the report, which was funded by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

The region’s economy and well being depend on the availability of water, the report noted. Lake Michigan is one of the world’s largest fresh water resources, but population forecasts indicated parts of the region may suffer deficits in coming years.

The report includes information on an 11-county deep bedrock aquifer and the Fox River Basin’s shallow bedrock aquifer. (An aquifer is a body of geologic material that can supply useful quantities of groundwater to natural springs and water wells.)

With this report northeastern Illinois now has a clear picture showing implications of our water consumption trends, said CMAP executive director Randy Blankenhorn.

“To ensure an adequate supply for residential, commercial and residential needs, we must start now to plan better and conserve more,” he said.

Tests: Water drinkable despite drug

From the Sun-Times:

City testing of Chicago's drinking water has turned up small amounts of a man-made drug and the insect repellent DEET, but officials said Friday that city water is safe to drink.

"Right now there is no research out there that shows there's any harmful health effect from the components we found at very low levels," said John Spatz, commissioner of the city's Water Management Department.

The city testing found a trace amount of the drug gemfibrozil, typically used to treat blood triglycerides, in both treated and untreated water. Carbamazepine, often prescribed to control seizures, was found in untreated water, Spatz said.

Spatz cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from a single set of tests, which found carbamazepine at a South Side water treatment plant but not at the plant next to Navy Pier. Continued monthly testing -- using multiple labs -- should begin to give a more accurate picture, Spatz said.

"Our water is safe to drink," Spatz said. "All the experts agree the water is safe to drink. This is an emerging issue and we will continue to follow it."

Study: Chicago Tap Water Contains Trace Chemicals

Story from Channel 2...

A new study by the Chicago Tribune might make you think twice before taking a drink of tap water. The report says you could be gulping down small amounts of drugs and chemicals along with that H2O.

As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, it's the second recent study that shows our water purification systems aren't filtering out everything.

Ryan Russell is one of the 7 million people in the Chicago area who drinks treated water from Lake Michigan – water that he's just learned still contains trace amounts of drugs and chemicals.

"I think that's awful, actually," Russell said. "You would imagine that water would be safe to drink, safe to bathe in."

And Chicago officials say it is, but a Tribune-financed study found tiny amounts of an anti-seizure medication, caffeine, acetaminophen and two chemicals used to make Teflon and Scotchguard in water it sampled.

The paper hired a lab to do the testing after the city refused to the testing on its own.

Commissioner Suzanne Malec-McKenna with the Chicago Department of Environment says Chicagoans should not worry about their tap water and that the trace amounts are incredibly small.

"One part per trillion is equivalent to one second in 32,000 years," Malec-McKenna said.

That's great I just wonder if I should go back to using filters at home like my family used to do in the past.