CHICAGO — One of Chicago’s most cash-strapped suburbs has sprung a leak that’s further fueling its financial trouble.

“There have been many days you get up first thing in the morning and you have no water,” said Dixmoor resident Denise Ruffin.  She is one of a dozen people who showed up on a frigid morning to detail water woes that have been plaguing the south suburb for more than a year.  “You’re in the middle of a shower, it shuts off and you can’t get the soap out of your hair because the water is off,” said Dixmoor resident Mary Shores.

Village officials have known about the problem since October 2019 when meeting minutes show they suspected an underground leak was the culprit.  Since then, private contractors have been hired, fired and many left unpaid due to a dispute among trustees about the best way to find and fix the problem.  All the while, residents report severe pressure problems and the water stopped flowing entirely to some parts of the village one day last week. 

It’s not just residents getting soaked by the leak, so are the village’s previously precarious finances. The Village of Dixmoor buys its water from neighboring Harvey and has seen its monthly bills double as Dixmoor’s water drains underground. 

See how Dixmoor’s water woes are only the tip of a troubling iceberg by watching the entire report in the video player above.