Records Seized in Illinois Town Accused of Water Irregularity

KAREN ANN CULLOTTA The New York Times 04/29/2009 21:59

Officials in Crestwood, Ill., are accused of supplementing the water supply with output from a well state officials warned about.

CRESTWOOD, Ill. —Federal agents and the Illinois state police raided Village Hall here Wednesday morning, seizing Crestwood’s drinking water records in a search for evidence of environmental crimes, officials said.

The raid was prompted by recent accusations that for 21 years Crestwood officials supplemented the village’s water supply, which comes from Lake Michigan, with water from a local well despite a warning in 1986 from state environmental officials that doing so was dangerous and illegal.

“The village cooperated with the search, and they are going ahead with city business as usual,” a spokeswoman for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Anne Rowan, said.

The raid was the latest jolt to this working-class village of 11,000 residents since the accusations were first reported by The Chicago Tribune last week.

A spokeswoman for the State Environmental Protection Agency said last week that agency officials had cited the village for violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act and knowingly providing false information about the source of the village’s water.

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