In the village of Cato, a boil water order remains in effect on Wednesday evening.

It is a recurring problem and the villagers want to find a solution.

Among them is Laura Klinger, who said she has encountered this problem five to ten times in the last ten years.

“I don’t feel helpless yet, but I feel frustrated,” said Klinger. “There is no cleaning, there is no laundry, no flushing of the toilets, no showers.”

Other neighbors on this block had their own problems.

Peggy Baldwin runs a hair salon out of her home. As she was washing her client’s hair on Wednesday afternoon, her water was turned off.

“I was just taking them to the sink and rinsing them off and the water pressure just dropped and nothing happened,” Baldwin said. “Now I thought, oh great, now I have to get water bottles and rinse them off with water bottles, which is very inconvenient. It would have been nice if we had known beforehand that they were going to turn the water off.”

Leanne Holmes, who lives on the same street as Baldwin, has three young children.

“It’s hard to say, ‘Hey, don’t go to the sink and get a glass of water because they’re old enough to do that,’ or ‘don’t brush your teeth,'” Holmes said. “Their daily routine is just affected and you’re watching everything they do to make sure because you don’t want them to get sick.”

Laura Klinger said her biggest frustration right now is with the county’s response, which told her to escalate the issue to local officials and to expect higher costs when the public water system is repaired.

“We already pay taxes and this is an ongoing problem and means evading responsibility.”

On Wednesday evening, CNY Central spoke with City Council member Dorothy Kraebel-Marency, who said the leaks in the system have been repaired and they are now awaiting test results to make sure the water is safe to drink.

She told CNY Central that village workers have brought water to some elderly neighbors in need and she understands the frustration many are facing.

Kraebel-Marency added that plans are in place to upgrade the hydrants and piping and that they have hired a group of engineers to figure out what repairs are needed.