PHOTO BY Olivia Sielaff
UPDATE BY ADRIANA PERRY
Staff Writer
Bright red and yellow caution tape encloses the remaining mound of dirt from the waterline break outside of the J.C. Williams Center on Friday.
Physical plant workers did most of the work on Friday to fix the break that caused flooding and a water-shutoff to the J.C.
While Physical Plant was managing the situation on the outside of the building, there were many who were affected by the absence of water due to the waterline break.
“We were supposed to be working over where the leak was but our whole day got messed up,” said Kateland McMeany a Franciscan student working as a grounds keeper.
“They were searching for two electrical wires on top of the pipes,” added McMeany.
“I tried to get tea from Jazzman’s” said Joe Zener a freshman studying theology and business, on Friday before the break was fixed.
By Saturday the waterline was fixed and the J. C. Williams center was operating normally.
ORIGINAL STORY
BY OLIVIA SIELAFF
Editor-in-Chief
A waterline break caused the rear sidewalk leading to the J.C. Williams Center to flood around 11:15 a.m. Friday.
All water was shut off to the building, and the restrooms were evacuated and closed. The water shut-off also limited the food and beverage options in the Pub and Jazzman’s Café.
Joe McGurn, director of Physical Plant, said rumors quickly circulated in the J.C. that there was a sewage leak.
“It’s not a sewage leak,” McGurn said. “It just looks that way because the water is a brown color from the mud.”
McGurn confirmed that a waterline running from outside Finnegan Fieldhouse past the J.C. and toward the John Paul II Library is what burst, most likely from a clog in the line, he said.
Water bubbled up from a grassy area next to the J.C. and overflowed onto the sidewalk and around the picnic tables.
Nicki Jurina, student supervisor of the J.C. Information Desk, was at the rear entrance of the building directing foot traffic to other doors.
Jurina said she had never seen this kind of flooding happen before at the J.C.
At the time of publication, McGurn and the Physical Plant crew were waiting for a backhoe to dig to the waterline and determine the cause of the break.
Check back later today for more developments on this story.