MAYVILLE — The village of Mayville is asking residents to immediately cut their water usage in half for the next week.

The village announced on its website that the Mayville Water Department is installing a permanent water pump in its new well. This pump replacement, which is set for Tuesday, will take approximately 10 hours to complete. Because of this, the village will be relying only on water from the water storage tank to supply the system during the process.

According to officials, if during the pump replacement process the water goes below a safe level in the storage tank, the village will be forced to use one of the PFNA contaminated wells to supply emergency water to the system.

If that happens, a “Do Not Drink Order” will be implemented.

“We are ordering all customers to please limit their water usage to reduce the draw on the storage tank beginning Thursday May 6th and continuing until Thursday May 13th. Please reduce water usage by 50%,” the village states on its website.

If the pump replacement goes smoothly and the village does not need emergency water it will, at a minimum, issue a “boil water order” to conduct water bacteria analysis.

After the announcement was made, Chautauqua Lake Central School posted on Facebook that it is encouraging students and staff to use bottled water during this time and that bottled water will also be available for everyone at all three school entrance locations. “If you have any questions, please contact the District Office at (716) 753-5808. Thank you for your continued support and flexibility as we navigate through these unique challenges together,” the school posted on Facebook.

Department of Public Works Director John Buxton said at this point there are no plans to distribute bottled water unless they need to use a contaminated well. In that case, the village will arrange bottled water pick-up like it did over the winter.

In December, Mayville had to take three of its wells off line due to contaminants discovered, caused by firefighting foam that seeped in the village’s wells. The village put a fourth well on line with a used pump. Officials said that pump has been working just fine, but isn’t able to supply the village’s water this summer when demand increases.