Water main break in west suburban Bellwood leaves thousands under boil water order on Christmas
BELLWOOD, Ill. (CBS) -- A water main break in west suburban Bellwood has dampened the Christmas spirit for thousands of residents who are now under a boil water order.
As CBS 2's Shardaa Gray reports, one mom had to cancel her family's Christmas dinner.
"That was something I didn't expect, especially around the holidays," said Tasha Taylor.
She has lived in the Village of Bellwood for nine years. She said this boil order has been a drastic change for her family.
"I never experienced anything like this. It has been very hard this year," she said.
This year, Taylor won't cook Christmas dinner because of potentially tainted water. The Village of Bellwood announced cold weather led to two water main breaks and frozen equipment in the water tower, impacting at least 9,000 residents in the west suburban town.
Two nights ago, Taylor noticed immediately as she was getting ready for bed.
"Take a shower and wash my hair. I looked around and went to the sink with my shampoo and stuff and I'm like, 'There's no water.' And I got real scared," she said. "It made me just lose motivation in cooking this week to be honest. I was just losing motivation. Really didn't prep myself for anything to cook this week, not for Christmas. I just decided I was going to family house."
Although her water is running, she still has to boil her water.
"My little boy takes baths. I have a 6-year-old. He don't take showers. So he takes baths. So I have to sit and boil water for him. It's just, it's not comfortable."
The mayor said they were still working on the water system on Monday, but have a temporary fix in place. Any future repairs shouldn't affect water quality.
Because of the holiday, there is no one to test the water. So the boil order will be in effect until at least Tuesday when they can process the results.
