‘My life is horrible right now.’ People in south suburban Dixmoor left without water after another pipe breaks in neighboring Harvey
On Saturday morning, Dixmoor resident Martha Montero turned on her shower to find nothing. But she had water stored in a cupboard from the numerous other times this had happened.
“We can’t trust our water supply,” Montero said.
The issues with water have been ongoing for about two years, said 29-year-old Montero.
“We weren’t surprised,” said Montero, “because we’re just like ‘Oh, it’s just another day in Dixmoor, where our water is getting shut off for no reason.’ ”
The town has been without a reliable and consistent water source since Saturday. According to Dixmoor Village President Fitzgerald Roberts, that is because of breaks in the pipe that brings water into Dixmoor, affecting the whole town’s water supply. The latest break was Monday.
Montero, who lives with her husband, his mother and their 2-year-old daughter, said that her family has been driving 20 minutes away to her mother’s house to shower. “It’s a huge inconvenience,” said Montero.
But for people who are older or who can’t drive to find water, it’s more serious. Montero’s neighbor Judy Grimes, 71, has received cases of water from Dixmoor village workers but hasn’t been able to shower since her water was turned off.
Grimes, who has lived in Dixmoor for about 30 years, has nowhere she can go to shower.
“I have no family left; (they’re) all deceased,” apart from her foster brother who lives several hours away in Indiana, Grimes said. The only other option is hotels, which are too expensive, she said.
Water was off as of 6 p.m. Monday. A pipe that burst Monday was repaired. Roberts said he was “hoping” for water to be back in service at 10 p.m. The village was working on fixing its turbines and waiting for its reservoir to fill up, he added.
This water shortage was attributed to a burst pipe on 144th Street and Ashland Avenue in nearby Harvey, which is the sole water provider to Dixmoor, according to Roberts. On Saturday, a water main broke in Harvey but was fixed, officials said. Roberts said that previous breaks were on 145th and 146th streets.
The village said that water pressure levels in Harvey have to be around 35 to 36 pounds of pressure to supply water to Dixmoor, which is about 18 miles south of downtown Chicago, but they have been in single digits because of pipe and water main incidents.
Roberts said that the only information that he received from Harvey about causes was “poor infrastructure.” He estimated that the pipes have been in place for “about 100 years.”
Dixmoor’s pipes get pressure tested every month, said Roberts, although “I can’t speak for Harvey.” But pressure tests don’t determine whether the pipes will burst, only whether they will leak.
Lizz Botello, who has lived in Dixmoor for about a year, has been waking up at 2 a.m. and driving her children to her mother’s house in Berwyn to shower before driving back to work. Her three children are home from school after an emergency closure notice was issued for schools in West Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147.
“My life is horrible right now,” said Botello.
For her, the most difficult thing is that “the town didn’t even warn anybody.”
Montero is also angry about the lack of contact from village government, which has been uncommunicative on all occasions the water has been shut off in Dixmoor, she said.
“We’ve received no communication from the village at all,” said Montero. “Our mayor is only talking to the media.”
Roberts said that using the media was part of his outreach strategy, adding that his team visited “probably 400″ houses.
In the future, he added that “we would love to” switch water providers or have the village’s own water tower installed.
Harvey supplies water to other towns including East Hazel Crest, Hazel Crest, Homewood and Posen.
Homewood is in the process of switching its water source due to “erratic water rates” and “unreliable infrastructure,” said Homewood’s marketing director Jennifer Quirke.
“The village was not confident that Harvey was going to maintain (its) water transmission lines to provide safe water for Homewood,” Quirke said.
In response to requests for comment, Harvey spokesperson Giavonni Nickson wrote over email that the city is preparing a statement.
Montero said that the situation has been framed as “this feud” between Dixmoor and the city of Harvey.
But “we really don’t care whose fault it is, we just want it fixed.”
