SO. ILL. - Those who are users of the water Rend Lake provides have been inundated the last couple of days, but not with water.
Instead, there's a lack thereof.
Apparently there's been a leak in a main, although exactly where (other than Franklin County) hasn't been pointed out.
What has been pointed out is that this is a recurring thing, with this particular main being patched several times.
Currently, there's a 24-hour conservation order for folks using Rend Lake water, which includes people in Jefferson, Franklin, Williamson and Hamilton counties as far as we can ascertain. But it'd be best to conserve water in any and all communities serviced by Rend Lake water if you've not bone under a direct order, and as to boil orders, folks are advised to call their local water departments to see if that's in effect.
Sadly, it's feared that this level of water conservation might lead American Waterworks to come down to RL and start their pressure tactics again; AW, a big conglomerate that goes around buying up small and mid-size municipal and county water lines so that they can raise water rates astronomically (all in the name of "keeping up your infrastructure!"), tries to take advantage of situations like this and other like things, such as improperly-trained treatment facility operators, to sweep in and make em an offer they can't refuse because downstate Illinois water providers are out of money and can't replace lines. (And even more sadly, a lot of this is due strictly to mismanagement and greed, which few are willing to address). we've written about this all repeatedly, as you can see.
So just be careful with your water, and do a little research to see what you can find out about infrastructure in your area. There are ways to replace infrastructure without taxing citizens out of existence...which is what's coming if we're not all careful.