Officials in Sauk Village are making the first drops in the bucket for improved drinking water quality.
Crews began installing new pipes Thursday after high levels of vinyl chloride were found in the water. Those levels were high enough to prompt the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to warn residents against drinking the water.
That contamination also prompted public meetings to address the issue.
The village voted in March to use water from Lake Michigan, but that requires a major reconstruction project. That $19 million project is not expected to be complete until 2016.