A water main break near the Mary Graydon Center loading dock Tuesday afternoon caused a water pressure disruption in a number of buildings on the North side of campus.
The situation started when Public Safety reported water flowing through the tunnel, according to Juan Allen, chief operating engineer for Facilities Management.
"At approximately 3:45 p.m., a call came from Public Safety stating that they had water going down the street," he said. "At that time, we went up and assessed the situation and determined that that was a water main."
Facilities Management then brought in contractors to make the repairs, Allen said.
While the outage only affected MGC initially, other areas needed to be taken offline in order to repair the water main, Allen said.
"When we did the repair, we had to secure Butler Pavilion, Bender Arena and the Sports Center," he said.
The situation continued into the night, Allen said.
"We were able excavate the site and secure the water system by 8:30 or 9 [p.m.]," he said. "By 1 a.m., all systems were restored."
The outage also affected the North side residence halls.
Jenny Forrister, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs and a Leonard Hall resident, came back from work and quickly found the bathrooms offline.
"At 7:15 p.m., I got back to Leonard Hall and there was a sign on the elevator that said there was low water pressure," she said. "About five minutes later, [maintenance officials] said there was no water pressure and you could not use the bathrooms until midnight. People used the bathrooms anyway."
She said water pressure returned at about 10 p.m., even though she was informed it would be another two hours.
Amy Falkow, a sophomore in the School of Communication and a resident of Hughes Hall, said she was frustrated by the situation.
"I left MGC because the bathrooms were out and went back to Hughes only to find out that the toilets didn't flush, either," she said. "I did my laundry in Nebraska Hall."
There was no food service interruption at the Terrace Dining Room because most dinner food was already prepared before the situation began, Allen said. There was some reserve water pressure, which was sufficient for sinks, though insufficient for toilets or the dishwashing system. Workers served meals on paper and plastic plates.
Allen said the water main break was not connected with the ice storm that bombarded the D.C. area Tuesday.
"This was a coincidence," he said.
