Chicago Area Local News

CRESTWOOD, Ill. (CBS) ― In Crestwood, many residents just don't believe what they are being told about the safety of their water supply, and they let it rip at a meeting Saturday. Crestwood's mayor held the meeting to try to ease fears over tainted water, but as CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, the mayor's first public comment on the issue fell on deaf ears.

"Nobody's life in Crestwood is going to ever be the same," said Crestwood resident Maryann Lasson.

The people in the community are expressing outrage over allegations their village supplied them with contaminated well water for more than 20 years.

"From a safety issue, the EPA said there is no problem with the water, the public health was never in jeopardy," said Mayor Robert Stranczek.

"Did they recommend that we shut down that well in '86?" an angry resident asked.

Stranczek was drowned out by his constituents as he tried responding.

"I said I'm going to answer your question," he said. "The paperwork that we have does not say shut the well down. It says we will conduct, and we'll let you know. The water has been determined to be safe. No harm to the general public has been done. It's through the EPA. What was done in 1986…in 1986, I wasn't here."

But Stranczek's father was. Chester Stranczek was mayor of Crestwood for 38 years until his son took office in 2007.

The EPA thought the well stopped being used in 1986. Officials were surprised to learn it was still in use two years ago, and ordered it shutdown.

"It's my daughter and my two granddaughters. It's the long-term effects," Lasson. "We don't know what's going to be down the road. Our lives will never be the same. Never. All I've been doing is crying."

EPA auditors say 10 to 20 percent of the water provided to Crestwood came from a well contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals. Lori Miston is one of three people on her block battling cancer. A fourth person has died from it.

"I don't blame my cancer on the water, but, you know, we're still questioning," Miston said.

Current mayor Stranczek says the first time he learned the water in his village was unsafe to drink was two years ago, when informed by environmental regulators.

A public information meeting about the water was held Saturday evening. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports that there were more than 300 people packed inside Moraine Valley Church to hear more information about the safety of the drinking water in Crestwood.

People who were waiting for the meeting to begin told CBS 2 that several residents in their neighborhoods have been diagnosed with cancer, and they now fear that the source may have come from the tap in their homes.

The group has a lot more firepower after Congressman Bobby Rush showed up at the meeting. He said he'll ask the Justice Department to investigate the way local officials responded to alleged contamination of drinking water.

"It is shameful, it's criminal when a government knowingly and willfully feeds its people contaminated water through the water system," he said.

He sounded off to a huge crowd at the church. They say they've heard reports that the EPA is now investigating whether the village knowingly pumped tap water from a contaminated well to residents. A well that the EPA says was tainted with potentially cancer-causing chemicals.

Many of the folks at Saturday afternoon's community meeting heard the mayor speak on the issue, and left with unanswered questions.

Crestwood resident Theresa Flynn was one example: "Who knew what? When they knew it? Why wasn't it shut down? When the IEPA comes to sample your water, as in the village's water, is that a planned event?"

Also among the skeptical residents is Christine Jimenez. She says she lived near the well for four years and ended up with Scleroderma -- a disease hardening her skin and attacking her internal organs, too.

"I was drinking and bathing in this (water) for four years," she said. "It's too coincidental."

Gov. Pat Quinn has said he wants an investigation into why the state EPA did not let Crestwood residents know in 2007 that they had been drinking the well water.

Stranczek said he is cooperating with the state EPA and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's investigation into the matter. A Crestwood resident filed a class-action lawsuit about the village's use of the water on Thursday.

Part of the goal of the public information meeting was to collect more names of residents who fear their illnesses may have been caused by the water they were drinking.

CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot, Pamela Jones, STNG Wire and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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