A water main break in Morton Grove may have gone unnoticed by most residents and businesses unless they were checking the village’s Facebook page.

Director of Public Works Mike Lukich told Pioneer Press his department received a call at approximately 9 a.m. Aug. 19 about a water main break that was about 10 feet to 15 feet north of Dempster Street on Lehigh Avenue.

“It was actually on a 6-inch auxiliary pipe that connects to a fire hydrant,” Lukich said. “It was primarily due to the age of that pipe, which is a 6-inch cast iron pipe.”

Officials said in a Facebook post that four fire hydrants were marked with orange cones and left on and running until the morning of Aug. 20 to help reduce water pressure surges and remove air pockets in the water main system after the break.

Those hydrants were at Lehigh Avenue at Churchill Street, Lehigh Avenue at Dempster Street, the north side of Dempster Street halfway between Lehigh Avenue and Birch Avenue, and Dempster Street at Birch Avenue, the Facebook post states.

“This should not impact water service for residents and water customers,” officials said on Facebook.

Lukich said the water main break did not impact water pressure in the village, which provided the Department of Public Works an opportunity to address the situation methodically.

“It gave us a little bit more latitude in order to repair and minimize the impact of the traffic along Dempster,” Lukich said. “We were able to isolate the water main break so that there were no impacts to fire protection, residents or businesses.”

According to Lukich, repairing the water main was a joint effort between the Department of Public Works water and sewer division and Elk Grove Village-based contractor DiMeo Brothers’ Inc.

“We have worked with DiMeo Brothers’ over a period of time so they are one of the contractors that we go to,” Lukich said. “We have a list of known contractors in the area and that other municipalities also use.”

Lukich was referring to the Municipal Partnering Initiative, which he said is a cooperative purchasing group consisting of a half dozen or more nearby municipalities.

Work on the Morton Grove water main began around 6 a.m. Aug 20 when Lukich said crews exposed the water main so it was ready to be repaired when the contractor showed up. Then, village workers supported by providing materials, removing spoil material and providing traffic control.

“It went well,” Lukich said. “The trench was backfilled and temporarily patched with asphalt material.”

Lukich estimated there were about five public works employees and about five DiMeo Brothers’ workers handling the eight-hour repair job.

Although Lukich had not received the bill of how much it cost to repair the water main break, he said the village has a budget line item for emergency repairs required by outside contractors.

“We have approximately 93 miles of water main in the village of Morton Grove,” Lukich said.

According to Lukich, the many reasons for a water main break include age of the pipe, water pressure, soil conditions and weather.

“In this case, some of the reason could be attributed to the age of the pipe. Also, just the soil conditions. It’s been so dry this summer,” Lukich said. “Typically in the winter and summer months you see the majority of the water main breaks throughout the area.”

Water main improvements for fiscal year 2026 have not been decided yet, but Lukich said internal capital improvement planning likely will begin around October to determine what projects to include in next year’s budget.

Jessi Virtusio is a freelancer.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/27/lehigh-avenue-water-main-break-old-pipe/