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We do not need to have a face for the consistent troubles of the Fredonia water system. Every member of the board of trustees who did not invest in the system in the past — or those who wrongly advocated to keep the antiquated operation for the village’s supply — all deserve a lot of blame.

Unfortunately, during the last meeting, the board and mayor looked to one person for an answer as to what went wrong and caused the recent boil order. That was Luis Fred, chief water treatment officer.

Talk about unfair treatment.

Fred is being given a nearly impossible task. As the village’s system continues to show wear and tear, Fred was put on the spot regarding the last malfunction that left residents without potable water. To his credit, he answered the board’s questions.

“On June 6 we had a routine inspection on both our intake well and our clear well by divers,” Fred said. “Upon inspection, they noticed very fine solids in the influent section of our clear well. As the inspection was underway, the solids got disturbed and made its way through the clear well into the head of the distribution system.”

To be clear, Fred is only one cog in this development. Also responsible is Scott Marsh, current village Department of Public Works supervisor. Don’t forget, it was Marsh — not Fred — who received a nearly 17% pay increase within two months raising his annual salary to nearly $90,000.

Both previous village DPW directors Jack Boland and Tony Gugino — who were compensated much less — usually took the heat for previous breakdowns. That was not the case this time around.

By the way, if we’re going to put village employees in front of the public when something goes wrong, that is a troublesome policy for elected officials and administrators. The recent water mishap was unfortunate, but let’s be consistent if employees are going to be admonished.

Last August’s fire at Heenan’s Irish Pub was ruled accidental. Even so, it was still careless.

A village DPW employee was using a propane torch to kill weeds along sidewalks causing the blaze to begin. If a private citizen did that, it would have been arson.

For the record, that employee was not required to sit before the board to explain the actions or what went wrong. Come to think of it, neither did the director, who was just rewarded with the big raise.

Fredonia’s water problems are an embarrassment to the community and region. It’s a running joke.

Too many — past and present — are responsible for this village mess. No one person should need to answer for what has become a damaging and all-too-common occurrence.