DU QUOIN -- There has always been a big sports rivalry between the Perry County communities of Du Quoin and Pinckneyville, but that rivalry is brushed to the side when quality of life is at stake.
Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi emphasized Monday that had it not been for the assistance provided by Pinckneyville in pumping water from its city lake north of town, it's quite likely that the Du Quoin water storage tank would have run dry. And had the storage tank run dry, that could have resulted in some damage to the water lines when refilling the tank.
"I don't think the average person knows the magnitude of this (water crisis)," Alongi said. "We were virtually out of water. We had to ask businesses and industries to shut down at 5 p.m. Thursday and not reopen until the next morning in an effort to conserve water and keep at least a foot of water standing in our storage tank. Because of our aging infrastructure, we needed to keep our lines pressurized."
Alongi said some communities ran out of water altogether and others were close. This was all the result of a Main Line break at the Rend Lake Conservancy district early last week, which pumps water to 60 towns in the region, servicing 160,000 customers. The problem was eventually fixed over the weekend.
Alongi said that Pinckneyville pumped its lake water to a bypass station in Tamaroa, which channeled it to Du Quoin.
"Without their help -- even with conserving our water like we did -- we would have completely run out of water over the weekend," the mayor said.
Pinckneyville Mayor Robert Spencer said there was no hesitation to lend a hand when Du Quoin asked for help.
"That's what we're supposed to do, isn't it? Help one another out? There are no politics involved when talking about quality of life. I know that Du Quoin would have done the exact same thing for us if we needed help."
Spencer said his city is looking to work out an agreement with the Washington County Water District to serve as a backup water supply should Pinckneyville ever have problems with its water plant.
"Our lines and their lines are only about 300 feet apart, so it makes a lot of sense," Spencer said.
Alongi thanked not only his neighboring communities but also his own city residents for weathering the crisis.
"Most all the businesses complied with the temporary shutdown. We only had to ask a couple of them twice. This was an all-out emergency and I appreciate everyone's assistance," the mayor said. "There were some residents who thought maybe we overreacted with the shutdown, but I can tell you that we acted on the information we had in front of us, and the end result is that we didn't run out of water."
Alongi was supported in his decision by Perry County Emergency Management Agency Director Chuck Genesio, 911 Coordinator Doug Clark, Du Quoin Water Superintendent Chris Lacy, Street Department Director Doug Hill, retired financial director Chuck Novak and City Clerk Andrew Croessman.
"We were putting out messages every couple of hours or so on Facebook and I think that came in pretty handy," Alongi said. "We are fortunate. Things could have been much worse."
Alongi added that the city council would take a long, hard look at an alternative water source at an upcoming meeting.
