Via the Department of Water Management

As you recall, a number of your neighbors experienced the inconvenience of frozen pipes last February. This was the result of a sustained cold snap, and some of our customers had to wait days before water could again flow through their taps.

We suggest you take the following precautions:

• Run a trickle of water from one of your inside faucets. Ideally, this should be from the uppermost and rearmost tap. In this way, your entire plumbing system is engaged. Moving water is less likely freeze.

• If you catch the water in a container, you can use it for other purposes, like watering plants.

• Do your best to insulate exposed pipes that might be in cold places, like an unheated basement or garage.

• Do what you can to let warmer air get to an unheated stairwell or basement that might have exposed pipes.

• Plug any holes in basements or stairwells that might allow cold blasts to reach unheated pipes.

Do not ever use open flame to thaw a pipe.  You might be near a gas line, or you might boil the water in the pipe, and it can burst.

If you experience a loss of water, you can call 3-1-1. We will respond as quickly as possible. If we can thaw your service pipe, we will do so. We cannot, however, perform work on private plumbing systems. A licensed plumbing contractor will be able to do that for you.

This is also a season when water mains and service pipes can break. Please report all leaks to 3-1-1, and let us know whether resulting ice is causing a safety hazard.

Very cold temperatures are an occasional and predictable part of a Chicago Winter. If we respect extreme weather and prepare for it, we are more likely to avoid its unhappy consequences.

Thank you for your time and attention to this.