Wonder Lake water boil order extended at least until Sunday

West side Wonder Lake residents on the village’s water system have been under a boil order since Monday, and that order is expected to remain in place until Sunday, village officials said.

On Friday, Mayor Dan Dycus said he plans to give daily updates to residents while the village awaits water test results indicating that no coliform bacteria remains in the system.

“The boil order will stand. It is time to retest until we have two days of clean, consecutive samples so we can lift the boil order,” Dycus said.

A sample taken Thursday and reported Friday in well No. 5, inside the Meadows of West Bay subdivision, and a tap across the street from the well showed coliform, Dycus said.

“This result resets the two-day test cycle, which will cause the boil order to remain in place until at least Sunday the 28th. Cases of water will continue to be provided from public works over the weekend,” according to a post Friday to the village of Wonder Lake’s Facebook page. Updates also are posted to the Wonder Lake village website.

About 1,400 homes are affected. East side Wonder Lake residents, including those in the Stonewater subdivision, are on a separate city system and are not affected by the boil order.

The west side water problems first were found July 19 during routine monthly testing for coliform. That day, “we collected samples as usual, with staff who have been doing it for 20-plus years. We sent them in, and they all came back positive,” Dycus said, adding that the village reported the situation to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The concern, he said, is that the first test came back positive for coliform “across the board. That is impossible, statistically.”

Robinson Engineering, the village contractor that operates the system, reached out to multiple parties to determine next steps, Dycus said. The water was retested within 24 hours, and the second round of testing also failed.

That is when the village notified residents of the boil order, Dycus said. Residents on the west side water system are asked to boil their water for at least three minutes, then allow it to cool, for cooking, drinking, brushing their teeth or any potential oral water intake.

Dycus was careful to point out that E. coli was not found in the system.

“It is not E.coli. It is coliform,” he said.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, coliform is a catch-all for other, non-E. coli bacteria.

“Coliform bacteria are used as a standard for bacterial quality in drinking water, as their presence in groundwater indicates sewage or surface water is entering and contaminating the water supply,” according to the IDPH website.

The McHenry County Department of Health is actively surveilling the situation.

“At this time, we have not identified any cases of illness related to coliform bacteria associated with Wonder Lake,” said Nick Kubiak, community information coordinator for the county health department.

Village officials have not determined where contamination may have entered the system, adding that Wonder Lake-area residents on private wells also may want to test for coliform, Dycus said.

The village will continue to provide bottled water to residents as long as the boil order is in place, Dycus said.

Residents have voiced their displeasure with the water problems via Facebook and at an emergency Village Board meeting Wednesday.

Resident David Holz said Friday that he had not heard about the boil order until Tuesday, a day after it was announced.

“I live by myself, and I hadn’t been out” to see the signs placed around town. A neighbor contacted him and told him, Holz said.

“I am a little annoyed, or more than a little annoyed” about the situation, he said.

It is the first time in recent memory that Wonder Lake has issued a boil order, Holz said, adding that he has not had significant problems with his village water since it purchased the system in the early 2000s.

That is when residents were asked by referendum if they wanted Wonder Lake to purchase the privately owned system or see it sold to another private owner, Dycus said. Residents overwhelmingly voted for the village to take over the system, he said.

In order to receive bottled water from the village, residents are asked to show IDs with their address to confirm that they live in the affected areas.

Dycus “has been delivering water to people’s houses” if they do not drive, Village Trustee Joe Houston said.

“I have been contacting seniors that I know,” he said. “Please, let me know if they need anything.”