Crews in the village of Ilion spent their Friday morning responding to a water main break on West State Street.

"Be patient. We know this didn't start overnight. It's not going to end overnight. We are working on it," said Ilion mayor Brian Lamica.

Water main breaks are not uncommon in Ilion because the infrastructure is more than 100-years-old.

"I have to make sure and check before I do any laundry, course I have no whites left. They're all kind of a yellow-white laundry," said Vicki Ferrusi of Ilion.

"I come every other week from Syracuse, but my mother, thank goodness my family is around here too helping her out. What we do is we get her gallons of water and she's limiting her showers and stuff but she's doing ok," said Natalie Ptasznik. She grew up in Ilion.

Another resident who has adapted is Wendy Jackson, the owner of Wendy's Beauty Connection. She gets texts from the village.

"I get their updates about if there's a water main break, and that helps me too to decide what we're going to do for the day because if it's really dirty water, if it's really funny looking water, I don't want to do any color or chemical work because that will affect it," Jackson said.

Wendy's Beauty Connection is trying to make life a little easier for residents affected by water main breaks. They offer free washes.

"We're a generation of so used to washing our hair every day, and that if you can't do it, you don't feel good," Jackson said. "So if you want to feel good about yourself, you want your hair clean."

"That's very nice of her to do that," commented Ptasznik.

Other businesses try to help affected residents too.

"I have an art studio on Second Street, Chickadee Hollow Art Studio, and I always have extra drinking water and stuff for my patrons," Ferrusi said.

"If you live in a community, you need to support that community that you live in. So you need to help one another, and I feel that Ilion does that whenever there's a problem," said Jackson.

Ilion village staff is working on ways to improve the water, including long-term plans for a partnership with the Mohawk Valley Water Authority.

For now, Ilion's mayor is asking people not to use water for reasons that aren't necessary like watering lawns or filling pools. A meeting about a partnership with the MVWA is happening next month, and a groundbreaking for a transmission line is scheduled for late summer or early fall.