After 20 days, village of Fredonia water users can take a drink. They could not, however, view the official Facebook page for the village until later Wednesday evening.

As of 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, the boil water advisory — that had been in effect since Sept. 10 — was lifted. According to the Chautauqua County Health Department and village Mayor Doug Essek, water quality from the reservoir improved following important upgrades at the water treatment plant. The turbidity levels in the finished water are now in compliance with New York state Department of Health standards. Water samples have been collected throughout the distribution system and show that the water is safe to drink and use for all other purposes.

The village of Fredonia is requesting that customers continue to conserve water until Monday, which will help from putting too much initial stress on the water treatment plant.

“The Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services would like to thank all affected water customers for their cooperation and patience while the boil water order was in effect, and commend the village of Fredonia and others involved during the water emergency for working together to manage the crisis,” the news release from the county and village stated.

In the meantime, it appeared the official Village of Fredonia Facebook page was taken down for a time during the day Wednesday. Visitors to the page were greeted with a notice “the link you followed may have been broken or the page may have been removed.”

The page was back late Wednesday. Essek did not return calls on Wednesday afternoon.

Fredonia’s lifting of the boil-water order came just before a planned bottled water distribution event that was scheduled for the Department of Public Works location at 176 Eagle St.

While that was no longer needed, the water emergency had taken a toll on a number of restaurants and businesses.

State University of New York at Fredonia, the largest customer, also noted the inconvenience. On Wednesday, students were cited in an OBSERVER article expressing their frustration. In a note to the campus community after the order was lifted, university officials said the “water should not yet be consumed. Campus water lines must be flushed prior to fountains and other water sources being used for drinking, dish washing, etc. The campus will send out a notification when it is appropriate to being drinking the water without boiling.”

Essek wants village trustees to approve another holding tank for the reservoir as well as another connection the city of Dunkirk and the North County Water District to prevent an incident like this from happening again. Before this boil-water advisory, the last once occurred in October 2017.