Differences in a state-of-the-art 21st century water-delivery system and an archaic 19th-century contraption are a no-brainer. That is what separates the city of Dunkirk model and that of Fredonia.

Two articles on our front page last week indicate the more than a century of variation between the two. In Dunkirk, 2 million gallons of water was lost in a leak on June 6. Randy Woodbury, Dunkirk Department of Public Works director, reported on the incident during a North County Water District meeting.

“Our operators caught it through SCADA telemetry immediately on June 6 as it was quickly draining the industrial tank on Progress Drive,” Woodbury told the OBSERVER. SCADA is a computerized water monitoring system.

Problem solved.

In Fredonia, water goes missing for years and cannot be accounted for. During a workshop this month, village Trustee Jon Espersen said the statistics for April show the plant built in the late 1800s took in 42,126,000 gallons, according to its inflow meter — but it actually produced 23,799,000 gallons, on the outflow readout. About 18 million gallons was actually billed to customers.

Problem continues.

There’s a belief, from these findings, that the missing water is due to faulty equipment. In our high-tech society that wants information and purchases at our fingertips, why do we accept outdated and troubled plants?

Fredonia’s water remains unreliable. It’s decaying delivery system is still on borrowed time.