Water main break disrupts services and life on campus

During the repairs for the initial break, water was turned off in many campus buildings and forced washrooms, food services and laboratories to close temporarily

On Feb. 27, a water main on campus ruptured, disrupting McMaster University campus life, food services and academic facilities.

Water services were shut off around 2 p.m. on the same day to the Life Sciences Building, McMaster Museum of Art, McMaster University Student Centre, Mills Memorial Library, Psychology Building and many other buildings so that repairs could be completed.

According to Alvin Baldovino, director of engineering operations at facility services, facility services was first informed of the break between MUSC and Mills Library near parking lots B and C around 10 a.m. on Feb. 27. A third-party contractor was then quickly brought in to fix the break.

“We had to hire a third-party contractor because we don’t have the equipment to address a water main break,” said Baldovino.

As a result of the break and the water being turned off, food services and washrooms were closed in the affected buildings. The university and food services provided an online list of the eateries on campus that were available in unaffected buildings.

The university also stated in an online post that laboratories requiring running water would be temporarily shut down until the repair of the break was complete.

When asked about the suspected cause of the break, Baldovino said it was difficult to say for sure what happened.

“The infrastructure is aging. . . It could have been a pressure fluctuation in the past, [but] you can’t really say exactly what the cause was. When we did uncover the pipe, it was corroded,” said Baldovino.

Essential repairs to the water main were completed overnight and running water was restored in all affected buildings by the morning of Feb. 28. The university also stated that facility services would be cleaning and changing the filters of all water fountains in the affected buildings.

The area where the break occurred was still gated off as of the week of Mar. 4, though all affected services have since returned to normal operations.

When Baldovino was asked about the progress of the work at the site of the break and when it is expected to be fully completed, he stated that though the pipe has been fixed and the hole dug to conduct repairs had been filled in, the concrete pad at the area still needs to be replaced. He stated that it will take some time to complete this final step of replacing the surface concrete and could not provide an estimate as to when this will be done.

This is an ongoing story.