WAUCONDA, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Something is in the water at Phil’s Beach on Bang’s Lake in Wauconda, and area residents want some answers after at least a dozen children were covered with a rash.
"I started to feel just a little bit itchy as soon as I came out of the water," Jackson Henson told CBS 2.
The children went for a swim on Wednesday, including 9-year-old Jackson Henson.
According to CBS 2, he and others were soon covered in a rash from head to toe.
"It felt like a billion mosquito bites, except poison ivy added to them, Jackson said.
"Their eyes were burning. They were crying. They were itching," said Jackson's aunt Denise Bango. "I've come to this lake for 25 years, and I have never experienced this."
The Village of Wauconda said it was swimmer's itch caused by an allergic reaction to microscopic parasites.
Mike Rennolet told CBS 2 he witnessed what he believes to have been the cause.
"I witnessed a boat with gentlemen with hazmat suits violently spraying chemicals all over the top of the lake," he said.
It was an herbicide used to treat underwater weeds. The company doing the application said there are no known issues with skin irritation.
Rennolet and Bango said the village has to do a better job.
“I would like to be notified by the [village] when they’re going to spray chemicals so we can make our own judgment as to whether we’ll go to the lake that day,” Bango said.
“The village will tell you that they gave notice to people who own property on the lake and that’s all well and good, but there are thousands of us who use this lake. None of them were properly informed,” Rennolet told CBS 2.
The village also said signs had been posted and an email warned residents not to allow pets to drink the water for 24 hours.
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