Joliet issued a news release at 5:36 a.m. Wednesday that the boil order was over for neighborhoods affected by East Side water main breaks, a sign that the city plans to improve communication outside of regular business.
Mayor Bob O’Dekirk brought up concerns that too many people losing water from the water main breaks that started Sunday were not getting information from the city.
“There was no one taking their phone calls or answering questions until Monday,” O’Dekirk said at a City Council meeting this week.
When people in the same area lost water again after another main broke on Monday night, O’Dekirk said, the city had “no mechanism to tell the people of Joliet was was going on with the water.”
City Manager James Capparelli said the city plans to improve the availability of information on such emergencies through the city’s web page, Facebook page and texting system.
The water outage affected a large area on the northeast side of the city when eight breaks occurred in a concentrated area along Fairview Avenue. The biggest issue was a break outside a booster station that supplied supplied water to the area.
Thirteen neighborhoods were notified of the precautionary boil order that was in place for two days before the city could do a bacteria analysis and give the all-clear news release on Wednesday morning.
Seven breaks were repaired before water was restored Monday afternoon. An eighth break Monday evening led to another temporary loss of water before it was restored that night
Source: The Daily Chronicle
Be First to Comment