Lake County water crisis hits fifth day

Despite earlier corporate assurances that the problem was being resolved, hundreds of Lake County residents awoke Thursday without reliably safe drinking water for the fifth consecutive day.

The emergency reportedly has affected roughly 1,200 Aqua Illinois customers in Hawthorn Woods, Kildeer and nearby unincorporated areas since Sunday morning. Many had no tap water at all until Wednesday — and some say they temporarily lost service again after getting it back.

Those with running water should boil it before use. That directive is expected to remain in effect through the weekend, Aqua announced Thursday.

People are angry, complaining about the duration of the crisis and the quality of Aqua’s communications.

“We received messages saying we should conserve our water usage when we didn’t have any water,” Hawthorn Woods resident Susan Bauer said. “They have failed to keep (their) customers updated with timely and accurate…