WILL KARR
Editor in Chief
This past week, Fredonia residents and students turned off their faucets and heated up their stoves after a boil water advisory was issued by the village on the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 26. The advisory called for individuals to start boiling all water used for cooking and drinking following a disruption in the treatment process. After the warning was issued, SUNY Fredonia’s administration was galvanized into action.
“The campus is a ‘water customer’ the same as someone else who owns a house in the village of Fredonia. We are running off the municipal water [supply],” said Sarah Laurie, SUNY Fredonia’s director of environmental health and safety and sustainability. “We really have no more control over the water on campus than anyone who lives in the Village of Fredonia. I think that there is this idea that because we are at a university, we are self-sufficient. In some ways we are, but in some ways we are not. Water is one of them where we are not.”
Laurie’s office (EH&S) intervenes any time there is a public health concern that pertains to the campus. Her office was one of the primary departments that helped the campus respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Laurie served as the primary liaison between the Chautauqua County Department of Health, the State Department of Health and members of SUNY’s administration, and was tasked with staying up to date on transient health protocols.
“I had been involved in many public health concerns and crises before [Covid]. Years ago, we were preparing for an Ebola outbreak. Before that, it was H1N1 and a new strain of the flu … but nothing on the scale Covid,” Laurie said. “These are all things that I got involved in and not so uncommon are also water issues.”
The recent boil water alert came on a Sunday, when Laurie and other members of Fredonia’s administration were at home. However, even though the notice came on a weekend, Laurie and members of the administration started responding immediately.
“Everyone that works on this campus is fantastic, and was really ready to jump in and help where needed, and that includes on their days off,” Laurie said. “We were all in an email chain saying what do we need to do, what are the next steps and how do we plan in case this happens for a long time.”
First, the administration started placing signage on all the water fountains around campus to notify the campus community. Then, they partnered with Fredonia’s Faculty Student Association (FSA) to start distributing bottled water to students.
Students received an email about an hour after the initial advisory at 1:30 p.m. from Marketing and Communications, notifying them that on-campus students could pick up two bottles of water for the day, courtesy of FSA, at Cranston Marche and Willy C’s.
Laurie explained how the task of providing bottled water to students fell on the FSA, which operates as a non-profit separate from the university. While SUNY Fredonia is funded by the state, the FSA is funded by students.
“SUNY Fredonia is a state-run organization, so [it is] a state entity. There is a law in New York State that says State agencies may not use state money to purchase bottled water,” Laurie said. “Any bottled water that you [saw] on campus was purchased by the FSA. They can purchase as much bottled water as they want because they are not a state agency. SUNY Fredonia is not permitted to buy bottled water.”
The law is part of NYS Executive Order No. 18. The order was issued by NYS Office of General Services in 2009 in an effort to encourage State residents to use tap water over bottled alternatives, which often contribute to environmental pollution. Laurie explained how NYS is trying to be a leader in environmental sustainability.
Knowing that their bottled water supply would not last long, Laurie said FSA immediately called their distributor PepsiCo on Sunday asking for more bottles. They were notified that they could receive two additional pallets, with about 3,000 bottles of water. This Spring 2023 semester, there are currently 3,210 students, meaning that each student could receive about one bottle from the new pallets the following day.
On the morning of Monday, Feb. 27 at 8:23 a.m., the campus community received another email from Marketing and Communications, notifying them that more bottled water was on the way and that the Chautauqua County Health Department said that the issue might be solved soon. On-campus students were able to pick up one bottle from FSA locations during the day Monday — one bottle less than the day before. The administration reached out to the County and State Offices of Emergency Management, and SUNY administration to help provide students with additional water resources for Tuesday.
“Students meal plans are what fund FSA, so if they want to stockpile 50,000 bottles of water in case we need it, that comes directly out of students pockets. The FSA runs a tight budget line to keep the cost to the student lower,” Laurie said. “There is this delicate balance of needing to have bottled water on hand, but not so much that it is gouging students just so we can have bottled water in a warehouse.”
Even though the campus was notified that the order could be lifted soon, Laurie and administration members were still starting to prepare for if it wasn’t.
This incident is not the first time that the Village has issued a boil water order. Laurie said that back in September 2020 during the pandemic, the village issued an order that lasted for three weeks.
In 2020, the university brought a tanker truck filled with water to a parking lot on campus. They filled up coolers with water and placed them on tables for people to fill up their water bottles. Laurie said that they were going to consider bringing a tanker to campus this time around if things continued.
“When you are talking about doing that now in February and March, the biggest concern was that the water in the truck would freeze,” Laurie said. “When it happened in 2020, we had fewer students, but it lasted longer, making it difficult to provide bottled water. Eventually our distributors can’t provide us with as much water as we need. The tanker truck was key in being able to find enough water.”
Laurie explained how the order in 2020 was caused by high turbidity levels, a buildup of sediment in water that prevents disinfection. Meanwhile, this year’s issue was caused by a problem with a chlorinator.
On the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 4:58 p.m., Fredonia Mayor Doug Essek sent out a press release to the media that said, “as of today our water treatment plant’s chlorine disinfection system is in operation. Chlorine levels leaving the plant are in acceptable levels as well as chlorine levels throughout the distribution sytem … [After two rounds of testing], it is anticipated that there will be negative (good) results of bacteria in our system. The Chautauqua County Health Department will then determine if the boil water order will be lifted.”
Laurie spoke about the testing process.
“When something like this happens, they have to have lab samples come back with good results before they can lift the boiling water,” Laurie said. “They collected their first sample Monday morning, but they didn’t get the results until Tuesday. Then, they collected again on Tuesday, but they didn’t get the results until Wednesday. So this issue was fixed fairly quickly, but because of the testing process, it takes a couple of extra days.”
On the evening of Wednesday, March 1, the campus received a message notifying them that the Health Department lifted the boil water order and that test results revealed that the Village’s water is once again safe for drinking and other usages. However, even after the order was lifted, the administration had to take additional steps to return campus to normal, such as flushing the water lines and changing filters.
Laurie and members are working to now help the campus return to normal.
“Nobody is going to deny that this is a huge inconvenience and nobody is going to say be grateful for your one bottle of water. We start talking about 3,000 students and maybe many of them have no resources. A lot of students may not have a car and be able to drive to the store. Even if they can, the village is already buying up all the water,” Laurie said. “It can have a significant impact on them when they feel sort of stranded in a location where they don’t have as much access to water … and where the people who are supposed to be helping them have to ration supplies.”
The Leader also reached out to Fredonia’s Mayor Doug Essek via email on the morning of Wednesday, March 1 at 8:00 a.m. for comment. Heather Kibbe from the Village of Fredonia’s Water Department was called on Friday, March 3. Kibbe re-directed the call to Village Clerk Anne Marie Johnston, who said the mayor would get back to us shortly. The Leader is still waiting on a response from Mayor Essek. We will update this story on our website as it develops.