FREDONIA, N.Y. — The Village of Fredonia has made a decision about its aging water infrastructure. Trustees have voted to decommission the water plant and instead get its water from Dunkirk.
The Fredonia trustees' vote came down 3-2 meaning more of them were in favor of getting their water from Dunkirk instead of fixing the current village water infrastructure.
The Village of Fredonia trustees were given three options from the Labella Engineering Firm to decide the future of their water supply.
The first option was to rehabilitate the current water system. The second option was to decommission the reservoir and the water treatment plant and build an interconnect with Dunkirk. The third option was to decommission the water plant, to draw down the reservoir, and to rebuild the interconnect with Dunkirk.
This is what Jon Espersen, a member of the board of trustees voted for, and believes was the best option.
"Long-time residents have an emotional attachment to the reservoir and the water plant because that's all they've ever known. And it's normally, in the last few years, inadequate, as you know we've had a lot of water breaks and we've had a lot of boil water orders and I believe that purchasing water from Dunkirk will not eliminate but certainly cut down on boil water orders," Espersen said.
Those who voted against this decision say this move will affect the residents long term, including an increase in their water bills.
James Lynden, another board of trustees member, believes the plant needs upgrades but it would but it would be an investments that has to be made. He also said having a water supply in Fredonia is a safety net for surrounding cities.
"The City of Dunkirk had a major water main break earlier in the year at route 5. Some of the areas had no water... We had to supply pressure to them," Lynden said.
It will take at least another year or three for the water supply to come from Dunkirk.
As far as how long it will take to make this transition, there are still a lot of decisions to be made including coming up with a contract between the Village of Fredonia and Dunkirk.