Metro-East boil order is lifted as system gets well
By Georgina Gustin
Of the Post-Dispatch
Thursday, Jun. 30 2005

Temperatures rose. The drought persisted. People used more water. Pipes swelled
with the huge demand - and broke.

On Saturday, a perfect combination of factors challenged the water system in
much of the Metro East area, causing ailing parts of the system to crash,
authorities said Wednesday.

At least 10 water mains broke over the weekend, and when the biggest among them
- a 16-inch pipe along St. Clair Avenue in East St. Louis - cracked open on
Saturday evening, it pushed the system over the edge.

By Saturday night, the city of O'Fallon, where residents had already been asked
to voluntarily limit water use, had imposed a boil order because of low water
pressure. By Sunday, Illinois-American Water Co. required seven more
municipalities and Scott Air Force Base to do the same.

The boil order inconvenienced residents and businesses for nearly three days
until Wednesday morning, when it was lifted. Customers in O'Fallon, Fairview
Heights, Belleville, Shiloh, Swansea, Waterloo, Columbia, Millstadt and the Air
Force base could again safely drink a cold glass of water from the tap. The
company continued to ask those customers to conserve water voluntarily.
Edwardsville and Glen Carbon also continued their water conservation requests.

Some municipal leaders were left with concerns about the system's ability to
handle the area's increased need for water - not just at the height of summer
heat, but in the future if development in the region continues.

"Quite honestly, some of those lines have been down there 60, 70 years," said
Fairview Heights Mayor Gail Mitchell, who plans to write a letter to
Illinois-American about the issue. "I think they ought to take a good look at
their older pipe."

Conditions could be even more stressed in some areas farther east of the
Mississippi River, from which Illinois-American draws its water.

Illinois-American draws water for its East St. Louis plant from the river
through 60-inch pipes. Those pipes provide or distribute water to an estimated
300,000 customers over a system of water mains that would stretch 1,000 miles
if laid end to end, according to the company.

Illinois-American officials said the drought was the primary cause of the water
main breaks over the weekend, and they stressed that isolated water main breaks
- such as one in Brooklyn on Wednesday - were common occurrences.

"Absent the drought, we wouldn't be having these conditions," said Fred
Ruckman, the company's general manager. "Last year, there were no problems."

So far this month, Illinois-American has pumped 10 million more gallons out of
its East St. Louis plant than it did last year. "Last year was very wet,"
Ruckman noted. "This summer is the exact opposite."

Ruckman said the water supply in the Mississippi isn't a problem, nor is
production capacity at the East St. Louis plant, which should be adequate to
service the region for years to come. But, as with many water systems, aging
pipes are a concern.