Campus Alert Archive
GSU

Spring Fertilizer Runoff Spiked Nitrates in the Campus Water Supply -- Governors State Warns: Do Not Boil

ILwater contaminationadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On Monday, June 9, 2025, Governors State University issued an emergency alert to its campus community after Aqua Illinois expanded a drinking water advisory to University Park, Illinois due to elevated nitrate levels from spring fertilizer runoff into the Kankakee River. The advisory specifically warned residents not to boil water -- an unusual instruction since boiling concentrates rather than neutralizes nitrates. Water was declared unsafe for infants under 6 months and pregnant women. Aqua Illinois called it an unprecedented nitrate exceedance at its Kankakee Water Treatment Plant and provided bottled water to high-risk customers. The advisory was later lifted once nitrate levels in the river fell below regulatory limits.

Alerts
2
Response
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Killed
—
Injured
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Institution
Governors State University
Public Masters · IL
~4,500 studentsGSU Emergency Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstruction339 chars
GSU Emergency Alert: Aqua Illinois has issued a drinking water advisory for University Park due to elevated nitrate levels. DO NOT BOIL WATER -- boiling increases nitrate concentration. This water is unsafe for infants under 6 months old and pregnant women. Use bottled water. The university will provide updates as the situation develops.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The 'DO NOT BOIL' instruction is a critical public health nuance specific to nitrate contamination: unlike bacterial contamination, boiling nitrate-contaminated water concentrates the nitrates rather than destroying them, making the water more dangerous.
Governors State University sits in University Park, Illinois, in Will County, and depends on Aqua Illinois for its drinking water -- meaning a water utility emergency that affects the surrounding community automatically becomes a campus emergency.
ALL CLEAREmail
Approximate reconstruction267 chars
GSU Emergency Alert: Aqua Illinois has lifted the drinking water advisory for University Park. River nitrate levels have fallen below the required regulatory limit and all monitoring locations confirm compliance. Normal use of campus drinking water is safe to resume.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The advisory was lifted only after Aqua Illinois confirmed that the river nitrate levels at the Illinois EPA monitoring location fell below the required limit and internal monitoring at all other locations was also compliant.
The unusual and unprecedented nature of the event -- Aqua Illinois said it had never before experienced a nitrate exceedance at the Kankakee Water Treatment Plant -- made the all-clear a careful, multi-point confirmation rather than a simple lift.
Context

Background

Governors State University is a public master's-granting university in University Park, Illinois, serving a predominantly commuter student population in the south suburbs of Chicago. The university relies on Aqua Illinois for its drinking water supply via the Kankakee River water treatment plant. In June 2025, an unprecedented nitrate exceedance occurred at the plant, attributed by Aqua Illinois to spring fertilizer runoff and heavy recent rains that elevated nitrate concentrations in the Kankakee River above the EPA regulatory limit. The advisory expanded from neighboring communities to University Park, prompting Governors State to send a campus emergency alert on the morning of June 9. The advisory's most unusual feature was the 'DO NOT BOIL' instruction -- unlike advisories for bacterial contamination, boiling nitrate-contaminated water concentrates the nitrates and makes it more dangerous, particularly for formula-fed infants and pregnant women. Aqua Illinois provided bottled water to high-risk customers in the area. The advisory was eventually lifted after river levels fell below regulatory limits and monitoring confirmed compliance. The incident also prompted discussion about University Park's long-standing push to buy back its water rights from Aqua Illinois, an issue with deeper roots in the community's historical water quality concerns.
Analysis

Key Findings

The 'DO NOT BOIL' instruction makes this a distinctive advisory: boiling nitrate-contaminated water makes it more dangerous, not less, confounding the standard public health guidance most people know
The exceedance was described by Aqua Illinois as unprecedented at the Kankakee Water Treatment Plant -- spring fertilizer runoff into the river caused the spike
Governors State University's dependency on Aqua Illinois for campus water means a regional utility emergency automatically becomes a campus emergency without any direct campus failure
The incident added to University Park's broader push to reclaim water system ownership from the private utility
Outcome
No injuries reported. Aqua Illinois provided bottled water to high-risk customers. The water advisory was later lifted after river nitrate levels fell below the required limit and monitoring confirmed compliance across all locations.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Aqua Illinois drinking water alert expands to University Park, Governors State University sends alert -- CBS Chicago
    cbsnews.com
  2. News
    Aqua Illinois issues water advisory for south suburbs -- CBS Chicago
    cbsnews.com
  3. News
    University Park mayor wants to buy water rights from Aqua Illinois after high nitrate levels detected -- ABC7 Chicago
    abc7chicago.com
Tags
water-contaminationnitratesutility-emergencyillinoispublic-mastersadvisorydo-not-boilaqua-illinoisuniversity-parkwill-county
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion