Water Nightmare in Willisville

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[What began last Wednesday as routine repair and maintenance of the town's 100,000 gallon water tank on the near west side has turned into a nightmare.

To begin the work, a Lockport, Ill. company called Maxcor did what it always does--drain the water tank.

So the town would continue to benefit from clean, treated water during the two weeks of repair and maintenance, the town was switched to a direct connection with the Kinkaid-Reed's Creek Conservancy District.

A safety pressure valve is in place to regulate the direct pressure on the line. If pressure gets too high, the valve vents the water and the pressure from the line.

But, village utility workers say that system isn't working very well, and as of 8 a.m. Sunday they had been called out eight times to repair blown-out water mains all across the community.

When there is water, the entire town is on a boil order, and the contractor says it typically takes two weeks to sandblast, repair and repaint a water tank this size.

Work continued on the tower on Sunday.

A sign on Fleetwood's Landing directs residents to the town's volunteer fire department next to the water tower for fresh water.

Patrons of the store were calling the problem a "nightmare" with no relief in sight until the tower is back on line and residents are off the direct feed from the conservancy district.

Residents were told over the weekend to be very conservative in using water as employees continue to try and regulate water in the fragile system.