CANTON, Ill. (WMBD) — A boil order in Canton is leaving many without clean water. It’s affecting towns surrounding the city, as well.
“It has something to do with the mechanism at the water plant itself, which is what’s caused such the widespread issue,” said the City of Canton’s Public Information Officer Edward Glad.
A large water valve broke at the water plant on Tuesday, and it’s affecting thousands of residents. Now, restaurants and residents are having to adjust.
“If they’re going to use water for food, drinking, cooking, washing dishes. It should really be boiled for 5 minutes before they use it to make sure if there was anything in there, that it would be taken care of before it’s consumed,” said Katie Lynn, an administrator at the Fulton County Health Department.
Many restaurants had to shut down, but Monical’s Pizza in Canton found a unique way to stay open.
“We’ve gone to Pekin actually to get more water to get through. We have more coming in tomorrow on our delivery order,” said Monical’s Pizza manager Mitch Doubet.
They have utilized water from local churches and towns nearby, but Doubet said they have lost business because of the boil order.
Doubet said, “We’re basically down to what we did during COVID, we were just open for carryout delivery, but sales are way down.”
City officials have said they haven’t seen a boil order this large ever.
Lynn said, “I’ve been here for 15 years, and I don’t ever remember it affecting this large of an area. Canton does supply some of our other smaller towns with water, as well, and so it is a very widespread boil order for the surrounding communities.”
Glad reassured that despite hard times, Canton does what they can to stick together. “When it comes to Canton, we all just keep plugging along when things like this happen, and it’s just a temporary thing. Compared to what we’ve gone through the last few years, it’s just a minor inconvenience at this point.”
The city is currently waiting for test results from the water, which usually takes about 24 hours.
Canton residents and surrounding towns should have updates on the boil order on Thursday, but until then, Canton Public Schools will be closed on Thursday for the second day.
