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Residents of Franklin Avenue in the town of Dunkirk, including Suzanne Conway (middle) and Henry Pencek (right), attend a North County Water District board meeting to get an explanation about bad water pressure on the street.
Some residents of Franklin Avenue in the town of Dunkirk grilled the North County Water District Board and other officials about bad pressure recently.
Suzanne Conway, Henry and Kitty Pencek, and two others showed up at the board’s July meeting to complain. Board chairman Dan Pacos blamed a water tank/pump station project.
The Tenney Road site, near South Roberts Road, has been held up for years. Pacos attributed it to COVID-related delays, a generator that took a year to arrive when it was supposed to take two months, and an improper disinfection of the tank once it was finished.
“We’ve got them now to where it’s supposed to be done in seven to 10 days,” when the tank is properly disinfected. Pacos said.
He said the Franklin Avenue folks would see improvements in both pressure and quality of water once the tank is online.
However, Chautauqua County Health Department water specialist Natalie Whiteman warned, “We’re at the whim of the contractors.”
She noted that bacteria samples must pass inspection before the tank can be used.
The Franklin Avenue residents sounded unimpressed.
“This is getting frustrating, after all these years,” Henry Pencek said.
He implied that the city of Dunkirk’s expansion of water service was harming his own.
Whiteman said the Tenney Road tank is owned by Chautauqua County.
“You just keep passing the buck,” Henry Pencek said.
Whiteman reiterated the tank is closed because it has not been disinfected properly.
“We can’t ensure the water coming out of that tank is safe. Therefore I have not permitted them to fill that tank,” she said.
Pacos said the contractors contended they disinfected properly, but were asked to redo it.
Like her husband, Kitty Pencek appeared unimpressed by the explanations.
“We have to wait until midnight to take a shower properly,” she said. “We’re not sure we can do our laundry right.”
At one point, Henry Pencek disgustedly snapped, “Jesus Christ.” That earned him a rebuke from Pacos, a practicing Catholic.
“We’re just as upset as you are,” said board member Dave Hazelton to the Franklin Avenue contingent. “Something they told us would take two months, took 52 weeks.”
“We’re sorry it’s taking so long, folks,” Pacos said. “It’s out of our hands.”
