Reservoir group calls on village leaders to fix water system | News, Sports, Jobs

OBSERVER Photo
Pictured is the Fredonia Village Hall.

Members of the Citizens Action Group for Saving Our Reservoir is calling for action from Mayor Michael Ferguson and the Village Board to fix the water system after the third boil-water order in a year.

“What happened on Thursday is almost ridiculous. The Department of Health took a simple maintenance issue, the buildup of solids into the water pumps, and transformed it into a great emergency requiring a three-day long boil-water order,” the group said in a statement.

“Our organization would like to know if the proper emergency procedures were followed before the boil water order went into effect and if not why. In the event of an emergency, the Vineyard Drive pump should be used to buy water from the city of Dunkirk until the problem is fixed. According to the LaBella report, this 2-way pump which has a capacity of up to 1.52 million gallons per day, exists specifically to be used in an emergency.

Members of the group note they do not hold any village employee responsible for breakdowns in the system. They say it is the sole responsibility of the mayor and village trustees to allocate the financial resources to ensure water facilities can produce consistent safe and abundant water. “The waste of $144,000 in American Rescue Act money spent on a study that was summarily ignored by village officials is an example of missed opportunities to help fix our system,” the group said.

“When we say, ‘fix our water system,’ we do not mean a pie in the sky, multi-year, tens of millions of dollars project to buy water from a neighbor. We mean fixing our village water system including saving our reservoir.”