Saint Xavier University’s (SXU) water mains underwent recent maintenance due to structural issues, causing parts of the campus to go without water for intermittent and unpredictable periods of time.
Peter Skach, the Director of Facilities at SXU, stated that “the underground water mains experienced a break in the piping and associated valve leaks which allowed water to continually escape ground.”
“An underground pipe break can happen anytime. The older the pipes get, the more likely they are to fail at some point,” said Skach.
The two main breakages in the water pipes compromised a key utility for many buildings on campus, most of which happened to be the residence halls.
“…Shannon Center, URSO Center, Pacelli Hall, Andrew Conference Center, Regina Hall, Rubloff, Morris, McCarthy, and O’Brien Halls were affected while the water was shut down during the repairs,” said Skach.
Certainly, the lack of water did not go unnoticed by those that had to live on campus.
“Water will not be available to flush the toilets, run showers, sinks or water fountains,” said Director of Residence Life, Katy Thompson, in an email she sent students that resided on-campus.
These services were rendered inaccessible over the course of November 4 and November 11, with repairs to the first leakage being delayed repeatedly due to unforeseen rain and weather complications that impaired the repair attempts.
“The repairs lasted approximately fourteen and one-half hours,” said Skach of the first leakage.
Claire Stiffer, a Freshman residing in Regina Hall, remarked that she had to opt of the situation entirely – by going home.
“I went home to avoid the water outage… I wasn’t affected by it, but some of my friends stated on campus and they said it was inconvenient for them,” said Stiffer.
Sophomore Matthew Foley, who was also affected by the outage, took a different approach to the issue.
“I went out to the Dollar Tree and bought water… I really think it [was] ridiculous that I had to go to the Warde [Building] to use the bathroom, but other than that, I wasn’t really affected by it,” said Foley.
In order to compensate for the lack of such a necessary utility, both the school and students had to drastically alter their regular schedules.
“Students used the Warde Academic Center’s bathrooms and water fountains during the repairs. Water was also brought in and available in the lobbies of the dormitories for the students,” said Skach.
Furthermore, the repair attempt of the second leakage on November 11 led to the interruption of an even more critical utility for students.
“Interruption of water to the Quad Halls (Morris, McCarthy and Rubloff) also interferes with the building heating systems. The buildings should hold heat… but please know that should room temperatures drop during the day, this is the reason,” said Thompson.
Fortunately, the repairs of the second leak took significantly less time than the first leakage, and lasted only about seven hours.
Joshua Mira
News Editor