Rural water customers in Scott County on the Village of South Jacksonville line may be getting some good news today.
Rural water customers along Phillips Ferry Road to Cox Lane up to and including Illinois Route 100 have been without potable water since Thursday due to a busted water main at the back of the Village of South Jacksonville’s water plant near Oxville.
Utility Superintendent John Green and his department had been working at the site but couldn’t get to the water main due to 11 inches of water causing holes to fill up rapidly. Crews were also still dealing with severe storm damage within the village left over from the previous weekend.
Village President Michael Broaddus says he personally went to the site Monday after equipment and supplies arrived that had been ordered last week: “We were out there [Monday]. I actually lent a hand on it. We had a big – almost a 4 foot long crack in the pipe. We had to dig down to get to it. Our main problem was that since it’s rained so much, the sides [of the hole] kept caving in on us. Then, when we finally got it done, we had a big hole that we had to fill in later, but we got it fixed. The line is flushed, and [Tuesday], we were getting the water tested at Petersburg. We took a sample in to get the boil order lifted.”
Broaddus says he is personally thankful for the rural water customers’ patience and understanding through the ordeal. Broaddus also personally thanked the City of Jacksonville for their assistance both during this current issue with the water main as well as the clean up in the aftermath of the previous weekend’s storms.
The village hopes to announce the lifting of the boil order later today or tomorrow morning once their samples are approved by the Illinois EPA.