People living in and around Paterson, New Jersey can't catch a break when it comes to their water.

Tens of thousands of customers have been under a boil water advisory for 18 days following three separate water main breaks.

Service is back on in the impacted communities, but residents and businesses are still buying water in bulk and questioning if what is coming out of the tap is safe to use after boiling. All of it has made them even more skeptical of the city's water system in the wake of the repeated breaks.

"It's brown. All the water is brown. It's not safe for the community, for the store, everything else," Paterson resident Flor Loveras said.

Flushing operation and pipe improvements

A flushing operation to improve water quality was about 50% complete when the most recent break occurred, suspending work, officials said.

"We have to flush all the hydrants and move all that water out of the system, move clean water in, which we paused because of this break," Jim Mueller, the executive director of the Passaic Valley Water Commission, said Tuesday. "We will resume that flushing tomorrow morning. We're taking a day to just get our resources, because we were busy responding to this break. [We] want to get our resources reset, and then we'll, 24/7, start re-flushing the system again."

CBS News New York reached out to Paterson Mayor Andrew Sayegh about the lack of upkeep. He said the pipes are the responsibility of the PVWC. Mueller said the commission has earmarked $800 million for improvements.

"These are major projects. We're trying to get out of emergency modes, but it does take time to ramp that up," Mueller said.

The PVWC says it will start bidding on some of those projects in the next six to nine months.

"What this is is an example of poor management"

A 42-inch main break on North 1st and Arch streets Saturday left 18,000 people in the Riverside section of Paterson with no water. The borough of Fair Lawn was impacted, as well. Councilmember Michael Jackson, who represents Paterson's First Ward, blames city leadership for dropping the ball.

"What this is is an example of poor management. The city received close to $80 million in CARES Act money during COVID. We really wasted that money," Jackson said.

This past weekend's break was the city's third this month. A previous leak near Hinchliffe Stadium on Aug. 8 left about 100,000 customers in Paterson, Prospect Park, Haledon and North Haledon under a boil water advisory to this day.

Frustration grows in North Haledon

Water is now running at a North Haledon hair salon, but the owner said there wasn't a drop coming out of her spray hoses for a week.

"We were pretty much out of business except for the few people who could come in and get a hair cut. We did what we could do, but we lost a lot, probably that week around $2,500 to $3,500," Angela Ferraro said.

Ferraro said even with the boil water advisory some customers are wary about the water.

"Today, there was a woman who didn't want her hair shampooed with the water because there is a boil advisory. She actually came with her hair shampooed and I cut her hair," Ferraro said.

Ferraro said she hopes to recoup some of the loss, but the borough hasn't given her the paperwork she needs to file an insurance claim.

CBS News New York not able to get comment from North Haledon officials, but the owner of Ana Rose Floral Design said she is grateful to have survived the week and hold on to a wedding gig.

"My husband and my son who went and got tanks of tractor supply and filled them with at home with water. Without that, we wouldn't have been able to stay in business," Nancy Maniaci said.

North Haledon residents can pick up bottled water at the public works building, but many are frustrated as the boil water advisory continues for a 19th day.

"If I didn't go away for four or five days I would have gone out of my mind," Jane Ferrara said.