Three weeks of Fonda's boil water advisory, businesses react

As Fonda has been in a boil water advisory for three weeks, businesses have adapted to better serve the community. Some are only using bottled water while others are donating it.

FONDA, N.Y. (NEWS10) -It's been three weeks since the village of Fonda has been under a boil water advisory. Businesses up and down Main Street are doing their best to get by without that water.

Pizzalano has been operating with bottled water to make all its food. The decision to do this over boiling tap water sets the owner back a couple hundred dollars a week but Michael Gualano says it's worth every penny to put safety first. "We don't know if it's bacterial. We don't know if it's just sedimentary. My worry is that you can boil water all you want but you're not going to boil dirt out of it."

The local Stewart's has also been using bottled water to keep the coffee brewing. And ice is only being shipped in. "When incidents like this happen, we're kind of positioned where we can pivot pretty quickly. Able to operate pretty much as is," described Robin Cooper with Stewart's Shops.

Stewart's has even been helping out by donating bottled water to the Village. Over at the municipal building, residents are welcome to take some home as the boil water advisory is not expected to end yet.

"The Village is hoping in the next couple of weeks they can get this figured out but we're just here to work with them as much as we can," explained Cooper.

In the meantime, the community is doing its best to run as usual. Kids at the Frothingham Free Library visited an Egyptian oasis and played with snakes and paint while they enjoyed clean water.

"It's also been a place to come for them when their power was out recently because of the storms. We're somewhere they can come and still have air conditioning and have a good time," said Linda Bell, Assistant Director at Frothingham Free Library.

NEWS10's Anthony Krolikowski has reached out to Fonda's mayor and water department for an update on the boil water advisory. We are awaiting a response.