Skateland reopens after brief closure due to water main break

SAVOY — Skateland reopened Thursday afternoon after closing early Wednesday night due to a loss of water pressure as utility workers repaired a broken main nearby.

Illinois American Water’s list of active alerts shows that there have been several boil orders issued in the Champaign-Urbana area over the past couple days due to broken valves and main breaks.

Skateland co-owner Bob Householder said while the utility has not shared the cause of the main break that affected them, he does not believe it was related to Wednesday afternoon’s torm.

“In my opinion, it’s probably more because of the extreme heat we’ve had, with the moving of the ground and everything,” he said. “And it probably just had a joint or something, or a connection, and it failed.”

In response to a query from The News-Gazette about the cause of the local alerts and the status of repairs, Illinois American Water spokeswoman Anna Kubas said all repairs are complete on the main break near Skateland.

“Restoration work is underway,” she said at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. “Impacted customers remain on a boil-water order. During the boil-water order, customers should bring their water to a rolling boil for five minutes before using water for drinking or cooking. Water is OK for bathing, washing and other common uses. When the boil-water order is lifted, customers will be notified after tests confirm water meets all regulated quality standards.”

Illinois American Water issued a boil notice at 1:52 p.m. Wednesday that covered the Goodwill building at the south end of Savoy Plaza and part of the Prospect Pointe Apartments complex. Another alert, sent out at 3:50 p.m., included this area, as well as Skateland and the rest of the apartment complex.

Both alerts listed a main break as the cause and have an estimated end of 5 p.m. today.

While Skateland has regained water pressure, Householder said that they were still boiling water as of Thursday morning and had turned off their water fountains for the time being. He added that the soda fountain would likely be out of use as well.

Householder first became aware that something was amiss when he arrived at the rink a little after noon Wednesday. At the time, he saw an Illinois American Water truck parked on Curtis Road between Skateland and Goodwill.

When he left the rink at about 3:30 p.m. to run an errand, he saw a couple of trucks and an excavator.

“One of our employees lives across the street in the apartments and said they got a boil-order notice because of their water being affected,” Householder said.

When he initially checked the utility’s website, he saw that the alert started at the Savoy Plaza shopping center and continued south to the apartments but did not include Skateland.

After returning from his errand about 6:10 p.m., Householder found that the rink had no water pressure.

“They had shut the water off,” he said. “I guess it was a 12-inch water main that broke, and they shut the water off coming this way so they could get it fixed.”

This meant that Skateland could not open for business due to health department regulations.

Other recent boil orders in the Champaign-Urbana area include:

• A notice sent out at 12:22 p.m. Tuesday to customers in a residential area near Penn Court and East Pennsylvania Avenue in Urbana due to main-break repairs. Estimated end was 5 p.m. Thursday.
• A notice sent out at 6:52 a.m. Wednesday to customers in a residential area near South Cottage Grove Avenue and East Pennsylvania in Urbana due to a broken valve replacement. Estimated end was 5 p.m. today.
• A notice sent out at 9:11 a.m. Wednesday to customers in a residential area West Springfield Avenue between South Russell Street and South James Street in Champaign due to a broken valve replacement. Estimated end was 5 p.m. today.
• A notice sent out at 10:09 a.m. Thursday to customers in a residential area along West Main Street east of John Jones Park in Savoy, due to main break repairs. Estimated end was 5 p.m. Saturday.

More information about active alerts is available at amwater.com/ilaw/alerts.