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The village of Fredonia water system appears in deep trouble again. It was hit with a boil order Tuesday, days after a conservation order.
Fredonia had to buy 966,000 gallons of water from the city of Dunkirk over the weekend, Mayor Michael Ferguson said Monday at a regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meeting.
The boil order was announced by the village Office of Emergency Management at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday morning. The stated reason for the order was "High turbidity levels and treatment deficiencies."
Fredonia water customers should bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute, then let it cool before using for: drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, making ice, food preparation and washing produce, and preparing baby formula.
Officials will conduct "Water sampling after levels stabilize. The order will remain in place until testing confirms the water is safe," the Office of Emergency Management order stated.
The boil order is likely tied in with the conservation order, which officials say was spurred by recent dry weather which taxes the filters at the reservoir.
Ferguson said at the Monday evening village Board of Trustees meeting that Dunkirk transferred 966,000 gallons of water to Fredonia over the weekend, through a pump station on Vineyard Drive.
Ferguson said the flow from Dunkirk was shut off Monday morning. He acknowledged, "The draw for water is more than we can produce right now. Hopefully that changes shortly."
Dunkirk Department of Public Works Director Randy Woodbury told the OBSERVER, "The Vineyard Drive pump station worked exactly as designed in the 1990s — to safely provide a steady 300 gallon per minute flow to the direct 12-inch line between the former Red Wing plant and the Fredonia filter plant clear well, a lift of about 140 feet in topographic elevation."
He said the pump station's flow rate can provide Fredonia with about one-third of its daily water needs.
Woodbury said the cost of the 966,000 gallons "delivered will likely be at the bulk user rate of the North County Water District, about $5.27 per 1,000 (gallons)." That works out to exactly $5,090.82.
Ferguson read a letter Monday on the village water conservation situation from Jessica Wuerstle, who heads up the Chautauqua County Department of Health.
Wuerstle said the conservation order was made last week because "Clean water was being produced at a slower rate. Currently, the water entering the treatment plant has more organic material than normal, largely due to seasonal aquatic vegetation and non harmful algae die off. The additional organic material means the filters in the water treatment plant are clogging more often and backwashed more often." Clean water is needed to backwash the filters.
Wuerstle added, "As of Monday, the treatment plant is producing water at near the normal rate. However, filters must be backwashed more often to maintain that rate of production."
Ferguson said that once the water treatment plant is able to produce water at the normal rate, the conservation order will get lifted. He expressed hope that a Thursday forecast for rain proves correct.
Woodbury suggested the Dunkirk water treatment plant is not having the same problems as Fredonia's because its source is Lake Erie, and it has activated carbon filters.
"Lake Erie is so large and aerated by wind that it supports oxygen-demanding sport fishing to more than 100 feet deep," he said. "Smaller reservoirs can turn anoxic at bottom layers, which is sometimes a challenge for those plant operators."
He added, "The Dunkirk filter plant, under DOH 1A Chief Operator Kyle Schuster, did not blink with the extra 60 hours it helped Fredonia. The city’s activated carbon filters remove organics and other objectionable substances, although Great Lakes water has greatly improved since its troubled years in the 1960s."
Fredonia is planning to eventually get its water from the North County Water District -- whose sole supplier is the Dunkirk water treatment plant.
Trustee Tim Mulholland commented at Monday's meeting about the conservation order, "It's a lot to ask of our residents. It's no small request. Everybody I know is really doing their best, so I really appreciate that."
Trustee LeeAnn Lazarony expressed gratefulness that the interconnection with Dunkirk was turned on. "It really gave us an opportunity to catch up," she said.
Trustee Paul Wandel said the Vineyard Drive pump station was activated Friday night. He said the water it sent from Dunkirk was "feeding lower elevations" of the village, including AgriAmerica and SUNY Fredonia.
During the public comments portion of the Monday meeting, Andrew Ludwig questioned why the village did not acquire water from Dunkirk last year during a similar issue. He suggested that a Chautauqua County Department of Health official, such as Wuerstle, should attend a trustees meeting to answer questions about the conservation order.
Ferguson told Ludwig that the interconnection wasn't used last year because no comparison testing had been done on Dunkirk and Fredonia's water. The mayor explained that Fredonia's system has a chemical lining in it to help preserve pipes, which Dunkirk does not. There were fears last year that Dunkirk's water would leach away the lining on Fredonia's pipes.
However, Ferguson continued, water comparison testing was finally done earlier this spring. It showed that short term use of the interconnection would not negatively affect Fredonia's system.
Ferguson accepted Ludwig's suggestion about inviting a health department official to speak at a village meeting, and promised to make the invitation.