{"id":135851,"date":"2025-09-06T00:16:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T00:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/135851\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T00:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T00:16:28","slug":"after-70-years-of-rusty-water-and-a-long-fight-neighborhood-near-mchenry-finally-sees-clear-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/135851\/","title":{"rendered":"After 70 years of rusty water and a long fight, neighborhood near McHenry finally sees clear \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

In late August 1995, Eastwood Manor residents gathered at Hilltop Elementary School in McHenry<\/a> to talk about their water quality, including iron in the water, and how to force their water provider to make it better.<\/p>\n

At the time, the water company\u2019s owner said the system had been like that for 40 years. It was platted Aug. 15, 1955, according to McHenry County<\/a> planning and zoning documents.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This Aug. 29, 1995, Northwest Herald news story reported that Eastwood Manor residents planned to meet to determine future steps for improving the water in their subdivision. (Northwest Herald File)<\/p>\n

Lawsuits against Eastwood Manor Water Co. ensued, and the parent company later declared bankruptcy. Now, 30 years later, with a new owner of the private water system, residents of the subdivision on the northwest corner of Route 120 and Chapel Hill Road outside McHenry finally have water that runs clear and not red-orange.<\/p>\n

\u201cI noticed immediately,\u201d resident Lori Burrey said of the change. \u201cIt is still coming out clear in the faucet.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a $1.7 million upgrade by private utility provider Aqua Illinois, Burrey and other neighbors said they can now drink and cook with the water coming from their taps.<\/p>\n

Aqua Illinois bought the beleaguered system in 2016. On the afternoon of Aug. 8, after about three months of work at the subdivision\u2019s water plant, the company switched from a temporary connection to McHenry city water and back to its wells.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water treatment plant improvements include building renovations, chemical feed equipment replacements and the installation of an iron filtration system to improve water quality for our customers,\u201d according to a prepared release from the utility company.<\/p>\n

Burrey has lived in the subdivision since 2001. Over that time, she\u2019s purchased untold numbers of bottled water for cooking and drinking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe buy water every week, and for a long time, we had a water service where bottles were delivered,\u201d Burrey said.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Tesmer and her husband, Chris, moved into their Eastwood Manor home in October 2021. She began agitating the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and Aqua management to fix the iron issue<\/a> \u201ca year and three months later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was tired of seeing complaints on Facebook,\u201d Tesmer said. \u201cPeople love to complain and not actually do anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Clark said he heard a lot of apathy about the water problems from longtime residents of the subdivision since he and wife Laura bought their house there in January 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who owned the water before Aqua … would forget to bill you\u201d so residents would go a few months without paying any bills, Clark said, adding that residents would let the problems slide in return.<\/p>\n

Had the couple known about the high levels iron in their water, they never would have bought a house there, Mike Clark said. His wife, he said, \u201cwould fight with Aqua all of the time. She followed Stephanie and called at every turn, even testifying\u201d at a Illinois Commerce Commission-hosted public hearing in July 2024<\/a>, when Aqua sought a rate increase from the agency. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

This photo shows the difference between a new and used filter from Mike and Laura Clark’s reverse osmosis system in their Eastwood Manor home. That filter, attached to their kitchen sink, is the final step in the water treatment system that includes a whole-house filter and water softener. Their water provider, Aqua Illinois, now filters for iron. (Photo provided by Laura Clark)<\/p>\n

The Clarks ended up putting in a whole-house filter, a water softener and a reverse osmosis system to clear the water for cooking and drinking.<\/p>\n

Even before installing the iron filters, Aqua Illinois said it has worked to get the iron out. When the company purchased the water system, iron concentrations there were as high as 16 milligrams per liter, according to the Illinois EPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always testing at 2.3 [milligrams per liter], across the board,\u201d Tesmer said, adding that the actual EPA limit is less than 1 milligram per liter. <\/p>\n

Because fewer than 1,000 people were on the system, the EPA could not enforce that limit, she said. <\/p>\n

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, iron is not hazardous to drink, but \u201cas little as 0.3 [milligrams per liter] can cause water to turn a reddish-brown color.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also can stain clothes, appliances and hair, Mike Clark said.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Mike Clark, left, joined neighbors Stephanie Tesmer and Chris Tesmer, in the Tesmer’s Eastwood Manor kitchen on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. For the first time in 70 years, water provided to the homes north of McHenry is filtered to remove high iron content. (Janelle Walker)<\/p>\n

\u201cI have gray hair. I have to use a special shampoo because my hair turned orange. It was like the circus was in town,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With the rust came a lot of sediment. The Tesmers, Clarks and Burreys all said they had to flush their hot water heaters a few times a year \u2013 or completely replace them \u2013 because of the sediment that came with the rusty water.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh-iron water with sediment ruins everyone\u2019s appliances,\u201d Mike Clark said, adding that he likely will have to replace his six-year-old water heater soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is already clanking. That is with draining it twice a year,\u201d Mike Clark said.<\/p>\n

Their home didn\u2019t have a washer and dryer when they bought it because the previous owners did all of their laundry at a laundromat, Burrey said, adding: \u201cWe added a laundry, but a lot of clothes got ruined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burrey also gave up on using her dishwasher 20 years ago because of the level of iron in the water. With red water no longer coming out of her pipes, she\u2019s now considering buying a new one.<\/p>\n

\"Eric<\/p>\n

Eric Zeddies, Aqua System Operator Trainee and Jim Tonias, Aqua Team Lead, with Aqua Illinois at the water plant for Eastwood Manor, outside of McHenry. The 70-year-old system went live with iron filtration on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (Photo provided by Aqua Illinois)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In late August 1995, Eastwood Manor residents gathered at Hilltop Elementary School in McHenry to talk about their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,85122,85123,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-135851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-mchenry","10":"tag-mchenry-il-news","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}