2 Dixmoor schools forced to close Monday amid water main breaks

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.

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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.

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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.