SETH MICHAEL MEYER
Assistant News Editor
On the morning of Oct. 21, the students of Fredonia woke up to an email advising them not to consume the tap water without it being boiled and to conserve water.
The effect of what the email described as a water main break was felt immediately around campus. Both Tim Hortons and Starbucks menu options were reduced to products that exceed 212 degrees Fahrenheit (the boiling point of water). At the same time, Cranston Marche and William’s Centre Pointe shut down their soda machines.
The students and faculty alike were optimistic that the problem would be resolved quickly but the advisory was not lifted for another four days, leaving many members of the community unnerved.
Darin Schulz, the executive director of FSA, is worried about how long the advisory went on and compared it to a similar situation that happened only a few years ago.
“This isn’t something you’d normally expect to happen,” Schulz says, “A day? Sure. Two days, maybe? Understandable. But to go on three, four, five days is very frustrating.”
Schulz said that there is always plenty of bottles of water in reserve for this type of emergency, but the reserves were running thin by the final days of the advisory. By Monday night, there was not a place on campus to buy bottled water.
“Everything’s exhausted . . . we had to run to Sam’s Club . . . and [get] two palates [of water],” said Schulz.
A Pepsi truck that arrived Tuesday morning finally replenished the water, but the water restrictions, Schulz said, are costly. He attributes most of the cost to the extra labor needed to boil all the water in the making of the FSA food.
Richard St. George, Fredonia Village Administrator, was overseeing the water main break of what was a 12-inch (in diameter) pipe, and said it had completely drained the water plant. The longest part wasn’t in fixing it, he explained, but it was testing the water afterwards that is a lengthy process. “It’s like an 18-hour turnaround . . . you have to wait for two of those tests to come back without bacteria,” said St. George.
He has confidence in the process of fixing the problem. “Life happens and we address it as it happens,” but that won’t stop Darin Schulz and the FSA from being more prepared for a situation like this in the future.
Schulz wishes to propose the idea of purchasing an M-149 trailer, more commonly known as a ‘water buffalo.’ It is a military surplus piece of equipment that can hold up to 400 gallons of water. Schulz believes having that available will ensure the students’ well-being and could ease the financial strain should something like this happen again.