Fredonia might need a boil water order April 16, and will apparently have to at least conserve water that day.

Divers will be in the water system’s clear wells that day, Village Trustee Jon Espersen said at this week’s Board of Trustees meeting. They will be “doing some long overdue cleaning of those areas,” he said.

Espersen said he found out in a meeting with Chautauqua County Health Department officials earlier this week that either a boil water or a conserve water order will be needed in conjunction with the divers’ work.

“We’re getting out ahead of the game and letting people know way ahead of time to conserve water,” he said. “We don’t know what kind of turbidity is going to be in the wells, until they’re in there and test it during the process.”

Trustee Nicole Siracuse, who attended the same meeting as Espersen, said a boil water order might not be necessary.

“We’re really hoping that we don’t have to do a boil water (order),” she said. “That’s kind of what (a) conserve order is going to be for, so that way we can use the Webster Road tank as long as they are in there, hopefully, to then be able to get everything cleared out, let the turbidity out of there, then move forward with water production. But just know a boil water order may be coming.”

Fredonia last had a boil water order in February. There were similar orders in February and June of 2023.