CLINTON - Clinton Public Property Commissioner John Wise is blaming a Chicago company for a leak in the city's new west-side water tower that dumped half a million gallons of water on Illini Drive last week.

Wise believes a faulty drain plug from Chicago Bridge and Iron caused the lower portion of the water tower to be filled with water.

"When the pressure built up, it blew open a locked door and 500,000 gallons of water spilled out onto Illini Drive," Wise said during Monday's city council meeting. "I believe it was because the drain plug wasn't installed correctly. I intend to go after the company for damages."

Wise said the problem has been fixed. The water tower is back in service and operating at capacity.

Officials are still calculating how much the mishap cost the city. The water destroyed some electronic equipment in the tower. Although it never caused serious problems for the city's water supply, such an incident can have an effect on the tap water.

"The water quality dropped and it was much harder and when people are used to having soft water, you can tell the difference," Wise said. "But we have it fixed and we're back to normal now. But some people could tell there was a different taste to the water."

Mayor Ed Wollet praised the city crews for their response to the problem and several other water main breaks that have occurred recently.

"The crews have been very busy with repairs and maintaining the quality of water at a high level," Wollet said. "They deserve recognition for all of the extra work they have put in during the last several weeks."

Wise said water main breaks are common when temperatures fluctuate.

"When the temperatures rise above freezing and then fall below freezing, it really plays havoc with the pipes," he said. "We've had an abnormal share of that this year so far and there is not much we can do about it. It's the way they are made and unfortunately, they just break. A lot of it has to do with the age of the pipes, but sometimes, it happens with brand-new pipes as well."