A 12-inch water main broke in the 13500 block of 135th Street in Robbins early Tuesday, draining the village's elevated tank and ground reservoir so fast that officials shut down the entire water system at 1:45 a.m. and issued a mandatory boil water order that took effect immediately.
The break happened between Spalding and Sawyer avenues, according to FOX 32 Chicago, which reported that the sudden loss of pressure left the Village of Robbins no choice but to cut service to customers on the affected system while crews scrambled to respond. The shutdown came with a warning: officials cautioned that additional service interruptions could still occur as repair work moved forward.
A Brief Window With No Guarantees
Robbins planned to temporarily restore water service between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m., per the same report, but officials stressed that pressure and availability were not guaranteed during that window. Residents were urged to limit their water use even if service came back, and officials were clear that any water flowing from the tap during that stretch still had to be treated as unsafe to drink without boiling first.
Anyone served by the affected system was told to bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute and let it cool before drinking it, cooking with it, preparing food, brushing teeth, or using it for any other consumption-related activity. Bottled water was offered as a simpler alternative for households that wanted to skip the stovetop step entirely.
Repairs Targeted for Midday, Lane Closure Expected
Repair crews were scheduled to begin work at about 7:30 a.m., once the temporary service window closed, and the village estimated repairs could be completed around noon if there were no complications. During that work, the right eastbound lane of 135th Street between Turner and Kedzie avenues was expected to close, and officials urged drivers to allow extra travel time and consider alternate routes.
The boil order itself was set to stay in effect not just through the repair window but for at least 24 hours after the work wrapped up, pending water quality testing and official clearance. That means residents on the affected system were facing more than a full day of boiling tap water before anyone in the village could declare it safe to drink straight from the faucet again.
A System With a History of Breaks
Tuesday's rupture is far from Robbins' first brush with a failing water system. A December 2020 report from the Metropolitan Planning Council noted that the village, which purchases treated Lake Michigan water from the City of Chicago, generally hires an outside contractor for emergency call-outs whenever seasonal water main breaks occur. The same report found the village's Claire Boulevard ground reservoir offline at the time, with no power and pumps that needed replacing, and it recommended building an entirely new pumping station given how inoperable the existing one and its reservoirs were.
Robbins has weathered boil orders before. A water main at the village's water tower ruptured in late July, prompting another boil order, and a 2014 break left roughly 5,000 residents, a nursing home and area schools without water for several hours before crews fixed it that same evening, according to NBC Chicago. A November 2022 break left about 100 homes without water over a holiday before service and a 24-hour boil order followed, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The pattern of trouble has drawn attention from Robbins' own leadership. Mayor Darren Bryant has previously attributed the village's water problems to aging infrastructure, estimating that roughly $40 million in repairs is needed, a figure reported by ABC7 Chicago. A January 2024 report from the Chicago Tribune separately found a main serving Robbins had been leaking thousands of gallons of water an hour for nearly a month, though residents in that earlier incident still had running water and were given bottled water for drinking while the leak was addressed.
None of that earlier reporting establishes what caused Tuesday's break specifically. For now, the Village of Robbins' message to residents on the affected system remains straightforward: boil your water, watch for updates on the repair timeline, and expect the right eastbound lane near Turner and Kedzie to be closed while crews work.
