Oak Park public works crews cap geyser from water main

Friday, June 15th, 2012 9:57 AM

Updated: Friday, June 15th, 2012 3:40 PM

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By Anna Lothson

Staff Reporter

Oak Park public works crews have capped a geyser of water that started shooting out of a water main Friday morning. The break occurred along Humphrey Avenue, just north of the train track overpass, where crews had been doing work on one of the water lines that delivers Oak Park's water supply from Chicago.

Crews were drilling into a pipe to install a test valve when a piece broke, causing water to shoot at least 20 feet into the air. Test values are used to check the accuracy of the water meter the City of Chicago uses to bill Oak Park for its water consumption.

Within an hour of the problem crews were able to make the necessary repairs to stop the leak. No homes or businesses were affected by the initial problem or the temporary shutdown of the water line from Chicago.

Reader Comments

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Lori M

Posted: June 21st, 2012 10:25 AM

The water main directly in front of my house broke twice within a 2-year time span. We were very lucky not to flood.

Kc from OP

Posted: June 18th, 2012 10:34 PM

no one was affected? Baloney! NE OP had an unannounced emergency water shutoff on Sat afternoon. Nice blazing hot day - no water.

OP Resident from oak park,il

Posted: June 18th, 2012 10:10 PM

There have been an alarming amount of main breaks in oak park lately. The pump station on ridgeland and berkshire as well as the one near barrie park. The water infrastructure is old in oak park.The workers have nothin to do with it, if anything they do great work which I've seen firsthand.

Concerned from Oak Park

Posted: June 18th, 2012 4:02 PM

I am really concerned about what is going on in the village lately in regards to crews working on the water lines and issues. A week or 2 ago at about 5:30pm there was water gushing from the pump station at Ridgeland 7 Berkshire, this incident and over this past weekend another than had our water shut off for an hour at our home at Lombard & Bershire because they had another accident. What is the village doing to make these crews acccountable? Don't even think about raising taxes to pay!

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