Main break leaves parts of campus waterless

Two water mains burst Saturday afternoon at SMU, flooding McFarlin Boulevard. The two pipes that carry water to Hughes-Trigg Student Center, Clements Hall and Fondren Library East broke Saturday afternoon in two different places.

The pipes burst and resulted in four inches of standing water throughout the north end of campus.

“The hole [in the pipes] caused by corrosion was two to three inches in diameter,” system project manager Larry Helpert said. “The water from the hole traveled horizontally causing in the dirt that supports the pipe’s structure to be removed. This in turn caused the pipes to break.”

Maintenance workers located the break and worked late into the early morning to repair the pipe. While repairing the first broken pipe workers found another break in a separate area and started work again Sunday morning. The two days of repairs were wrapped up Monday morning by contractors hired to expedite the process.

“It is common for at least three to four breaks to occur during the year,” Helpert said. “This break could cost the university approximently $3,000 to $7,000 in repair costs.”

Repair workers cut off the water Saturday evening to Hughes-Trigg Student Center, Clements Hall and Fondren Library East and didn’t resume until Monday morning. Because the water was cut off, bathrooms, water fountains and other conveniences were also cut off.

“I spend a lot of time in the Student Center,” said Rachel Bell, a sophomore biology and history major. “It was really annoying that the water was cut off. I had to stop my work and walk to my dorm to use the restroom.”

The construction blocked off a significant area of McFarlin Boulevard near the north entrance to the Student Center. Construction, to mend the broken pips, tore up a portion of the street leaving it inaccessible to motorist.

The inconvenience was not only felt by students but by visitors from the metroplex.

The final stretch of the 2002 Avon Walk ended on campus Saturday in the afternoon heat. For those looking for a break from the portable toilets and the sun there was heightened frustrations when there was no water to be found in the air-conditioned Hughes Trigg Student Center.

Other groups such as the Muslim Students Association were inconvenienced. The group hosted prospective students from the Dallas area Sunday during a recruiting event on campus.

Senior Nazreen Hassan, the MSA president, said that it was difficult to clean up with all of the food they brought. Hassan also said the water cutoff affected religious procedures.

“It was a very big inconvenience,” Hassan said. “We had to pray and one of the students couldn’t prepare properly for prayer without the water so it didn’t help the situation.”