By Karen Haave

A social media post inferring that the Village of Crete has unhealthy potable water has caused a minor stir.

As often is the case with social media, it appears the information being circulated is less than accurate. But this time, it’s not that Facebook got it wrong, it’s a clerical error by the State of Illinois.

The post refers to the Consumer Confidence Report, a lengthy and informative annual drinking water quality report. This one was for Crete, dated Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2025.

“This report is intended to provide you with important information about your drinking water and the efforts made by the water system to provide safe drinking water,” the document explains. “The source of drinking water used by Crete is ground water. The sources of drinking water–both tap water and bottled water–include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs, and wells.

“As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally-occurring minerals and, in some cases, radioactive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human activity. “Contaminants that may be present in source water include…viruses and bacteria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.

“Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants,” the report continues.

“The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk.”

The “violation” listed in the report cites “Failure to prepare a 2025 Consumer Confidence Report for calendar year 2024 that included all required CCR Elements. Incorrect Lead and Copper Ranges were included and a failure to include the new lead educational statement. See the correct CCR report at https://villageofcrete.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Crete-2024-CCR.pdf Monitoring TP07 for Inorganic Chemicals.”

In other words, it was not extreme contaminants, but a lack of a formal report about their possible presence.

“The report I believe the resident is referencing is an old report,” Village President Mark Wiater explained. “I believe it is from 2024. It went out with the 2025 reports erroneously.

“Regardless, the violation was for a delinquent test. We were late on the testing because the well was down for maintenance and we cannot get water samples from a well that is out of service.

“The state was notified that the well was down, but decided to consider us delinquent anyway.

“Once repairs were made and the well was operational, the tests were completed and the well passed. It was then put back in service.

“The village did everything correctly,” he emphasized.

“I can’t really speak for the State as to why they acted the way they did. We have pretty stringent testing requirements and we take them pretty seriously.

“This one is a report that should not give any resident cause for concern. I strongly encourage anyone with questions to reach out to the village, not social media, as their source of information.

“By the way,” he added, “if I remember correctly, the well went down because we needed to replace the pump and motor.”

Karen Haave is a freelance reporter.