After a pipe burst in Athens, Ohio University encouraged students to just go with the flow and continue the day as usual.
Although city technicians working to stem the initial flow early Tuesday morning predicted the water-line break would not affect OU’s campus, many students woke up to cold or no water in their residence halls and classroom buildings.
Starting at about 10 a.m., the Critical Incident Response Team sent out messages and convened at Facilities Management to discuss how to handle water shortages on campus, said Jenny Hall-Jones, interim dean of students.
“This was a major water break that impacted not just the city, but our campus,” Hall-Jones said. “We did the best that we could on getting information out to students and keeping them updated all day.”
Uptown locations such as College Green, Scott Quadrangle and Bromley Hall were the most affected. In other buildings, OU turned off the hot water as part of an effort to conserve water.
A boil order for Athens and OU’s campus was put into effect until 10 p.m. Wednesday.
Peter Trentacoste, executive director of Residential Housing, said that during the water break, resident assistants and professional staff distributed bottled water for residents and will continue to do so until the boil order expires.
“We already had 8,000 water bottles on hand,” Trentacoste said. “We then put in an order for 14,000 more through Culinary Services.”
The university has not yet provided the cost of the additional water bottles.
Students living in the residence halls said the water problem was an inconvenience, keeping them from taking showers and, in some cases, using bathrooms. However, some said they felt that the university did well in accommodating them to the situation.
“They let us know what was going on and assured us that it would be fixed soon,” said Claire Elliott, a sophomore studying psychology. “They also provided bottled water in the dorms, which I thought was nice of them.”
Culinary Services decided to keep dining venues open despite the water-line break. Dan Pittman, assistant director of Auxiliary Sales, said in a statement that Culinary Services placed an emphasis on safety and sanitation throughout the emergency.
“All Culinary venues have maintained operations,” the statement said. “We will continue to proactively collaborate with Ohio University and local health officials to monitor the situation as it develops.”
Despite the break’s effect on the accessibility of water on campus, some students are satisfied with how quickly the university responded, said Connor Hadley, a sophomore studying video production.
“I’m sure repairing a broken water pipe isn’t easy,” Hadley said. “Having no water is a (horrible) situation any way you put it, but it wasn’t the university’s fault the pipe broke.”
hy135010@ohiou.edu
