February 21, 2025
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7 repairs in 10 days: Geneva crews worked 36 hours repairing water infrastructure leaks, breaks

Rich Babica: ‘Every unplanned water service disruption is unique’

By Brenda Schory
The Illinois Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that lanes that have been closed for construction will reopen, where possible, but other closures will remain over the holiday weekend.

Geneva Public Works crews repaired four water main breaks and three service leaks from late January to early February. (Provided by Illinois Department of Transportation)

From late January to early February, Geneva Public Works crews responded to four water main breaks and three water service leaks, spending 36.5 hours fixing them, often in frigid temperatures.

“Water main breaks do occur when the ground shifts due to fluctuating temperatures,” according to an email from Public Works Director Richard Babica. “Geneva did experience a high volume of main breaks and water leaks in late January and early February...Our crews were able to respond to assess, minimize and resolve these incidents, even during less than ideal weather conditions.”

Babica’s email also stated the city’s employees are well-trained and prepared for these types of situations.

“Every unplanned water service disruption is unique,” according to Babica’s email. “It could be as something as simple as a water valve leaking to a rupture in a pipe wall.”

Rich Babica

A break is a rupture in the main pipe, while a leak is smaller, such as a valve leak as Babica described.

The breaks and leaks occurred:

  • Water service leak on Jan. 29 at State Street and McKinley Avenue, which took four hours to fix
  • Water main breaks on Feb. 3 at Chalmers and Kansas streets which took seven hours to fix and at another one State and Harrison streets, which took eight hours to fix
  • Water service leak on Feb. 4 Kirkwood Drive, which took six and a half hours to fix
  • Water main break on Feb. 4 at State Street and Maple Lane, which took five hours to fix
  • Water main break on Feb. 5 at State Street and Maple Lane, which took six hours to fix
  • Water service leak on Feb. 7 at Illinois Route 31 and Ford Street, which took two and a half hours to fix

Babica also stated in the email that they cannot predict where water service disruptions will occur, the city plans ahead and replaces infrastructure every year.

“An example would be the City’s (Illinois) Route 25 water main improvement project in 2023-24 that replaced infrastructure dating back to World War I,” Babica’s email stated.

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