Teamwork between Facilities and Housing averts water disaster
By Andre Savastano
On Tuesday March 3, a wee morning hour break to a 12 inch water main underneath the Chestnut residence hall that sent water flowing down the steps in between it and adjacent Roberts left Chestnut, Roberts, and Maple Ridge without running water for five hours between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The break, due to age, impelled Director of Facilities Dave Ferguson to shut off water to the three dormitories to minimize damage and speed up the repair effort, which was considered concluded after residual water was flushed, and the supply “reenergized,” around 2 p.m.
Students who live on the quad have the existence of an on-call facilities manager, the diligence of Chestnut staff, and Chestnut residents themselves to thank for the speed of repair. Lucinda Poudrier-Aaronson, Director of Housing, believed it was a student who announced the break to their RD, who called the facilities manager, who then called Ferguson, at 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Poudrier-Aaronson got a call seven Tuesday morning pertaining to the break, and once water was turned off, alerted residents in the affected buildings via email that they would have no water until 5 p.m., allowing Facilities leeway in its diligence it needed not to take.
Caroline Munger, a Chestnut resident, reported receiving the email and seeing trucks on scene shortly thereafter, the speed of response an endorsement of the reporting structure between Facilities and Housing.
The timing of the break spared her and her fellow residents the inconvenience of being without water. Most residents were without water for only two hours from the time they rose at noon, in typical college fashion.
The timing also mitigated the fact that the guest privilege suspension active in Elmwood, the only building with water, was not relaxed. Asked why, Poudrier-Aaronson said that relaxing the suspension would have been frivolous because desk attendants do not come on to enforce suspensions until 6, an hour after the repair was scheduled to conclude.
Age, the main factor in this incident, is a quality of most University piping. The main that broke had pushed forty years. It was installed during the University’s first phase of construction when UMass Dartmouth became the first university constructed entirely in Brutalist style.
Because mains can go much longer, there are no plans to replace the piping underneath the quad as part of the planned renovations to our four oldest dormitories. “We don’t go digging to replace them,” said Poudrier-Aaronson, alluding that costs would far outweigh the benefits. The same pipes, notes Ferguson, have benefitted the city of Boston for a century and a half.