By Jacqueline Hlavenka
Students waking up for their 9:35 a.m. classes on Tuesday morning may have found something different about their morning routine on the floors of the high-rise dormitories: turn the faucet on, no water.
An unexpected water main break disrupted water service on Tuesday morning at approximately 8 a.m., leaving students in Constitution, Estabrook, Enterprise and Vander Poel halls without running water for several hours.
The break was caused by a cut of a 5-foot section of underground pipe at the construction site of new graduate student housing.
The contractor was using a back-co, a large piece of bulldozing equipment, to lay the foundation for the building.
“We had toned out and traced some of the lines for the building, and they got too close to the domestic water line.” said Joseph Barkwill, vice president of facilities and operations.” It’s just a 10-foot buried line underneath the ground. The contractor knicked and cracked the line.”
A large amount of water poured into the construction area within a short amount of time. As a result, water service was suspended until the necessary repairs were complete.
“The only way we could isolate the water was to isolate this valve and another valve that secured water to all the floor high-rise dormitory buildings,” said Barkwill.
As the repairs were being made, frustrated students were taken back by the disruption, creating a buzz around campus about how residents could not shower, use the bathroom or brush their teeth in the high-rises. Notices and bright green signs were posted through the halls informing students about the temporary problem.
“I, like a lot of people on campus, were annoyed by this. I’m a big teeth person and I couldn’t brush my teeth this morning. I had to switch between different kinds of mouthwash,” said Micah Koffler, a sophomore public relations major, who resides in Constitution Hall.
Some missed out on the controversy altogether, where others took creative measures to get on with their day.
“I wasn’t affected by the water main break because I was up early enough when the water was working,” said Katie Smith, a junior business major who lives in Vander Poel Hall.
Nikita Estrada of Enterprise Hall crossed the street to find a bathroom with running water. “I brushed my teeth at Hofstra USA”, said Estrada, a sophomore broadcast journalism major.
One student called radio station Z100 to complain that she had to brush her teeth using bottled water.
Students were able to utilize shower facilities in the recreation and swim centers. Limited shower facilities were also available in the physical fitness center.
The repairs were completed Tuesday afternoon, restoring the fractured 5-foot pipe with a new section of the same material.
“We had to get another section of pipe and two couplings that would join the pipe with the existing pipe. We took a section out, and put a new one in, allowing water back to the main,” said Barkwill.
To prevent similar accidents from happening in the future, the Physical Plant Department will be checking the high-rise dormitories to assure everything is operating properly. Contractors will hand-dig around the 5-foot pipe at the construction site, preventing the back-co from reaching the domestic water line.
The accident, according to Barkwill, came at “the worst possible time on a busy class day like Tuesday morning, when students are waking up, going to class, and taking showers.”
