Dixmoor sees 9th water main break in a week, city says

DIXMOOR, Ill. (WLS) -- Two new water main breaks impacted Dixmoor on Wednesday, according to city officials.

The latest water main break was located at 141st and Wood Street and 141st and Page Street, marking the eight and ninth water main breaks in the village in the past week.

This comes after three water main breaks closed schools on Monday, a boil water order for more than 300 Dixmoor homes was lifted last Friday, and another water main break happened on Saturday.

RELATED: Dixmoor water system improvements to begin soon

The mayor has been asking residents to be patient.

"Bear with us. Whenever you need us to help you at, we'll be there, I have administration that's moving and about the people, and we are for the people and helping the people," Roberts said.

Residents there said they're used to this by now, but they want more help from elected officials.

"I would like to see our legislators focus on us taxpayers. We spend a lot of talk about on the millions spent on migrant issues. I'd like to see some of that money come to us," said lifelong Dixmoor resident Tim Arrington.

The up-and-down temperatures are not helping matters, but an aging infrastructure is really the source of the issue. City officials have been asking for local and federal help for years now to permanently fix these water problems.

The Army Corps of Engineers and Cook County funded about $2 million in repairs within the last year, which replaced a 2-mile water line. The mayor said that has certainly helped, but he still needs a total of $50 million to fix the aging infrastructure.

"We have a plan moving forward. We're getting federal help and also getting state and county help. Toni Preckwinkle has been our president, and she's been great to us," Roberts said.

Roberts said there are plans for more infrastructure repairs that will start in the spring with the help of local and federal funding.