Students living in Kostka and Claver halls experienced unexpected water and hot water outages on the first day of classes this semester. Following an emergency plumbing issue that required immediate attention from campus facilities, students were stranded starting at 10:30 a.m. that morning and just got hot water back in the dorms this Monday, Jan. 27.
According to emails sent to residents, the interruptions began with a brief emergency water shutdown scheduled for the late morning. While the initial notice indicated that service would be restored within minutes, the situation developed into a longer outage as facilities staff worked to address a plumbing problem affecting both buildings.
“Honestly, I was so worried because I was in classes all day, and I had gotten to my dorm late,” said sophomore Claver resident, Gabriella Febbraio. “Some people on my floor complained there was minimal damage to their room, but the top floors suffered worse damage.”
During the disruption, residents were informed that water service would temporarily remain unavailable until repairs could be completed. Temporary accommodations were provided, including access to restroom facilities in nearby campus buildings. Students in need of showers were directed to use facilities at the RecPlex, which remained open through the night.
In the GroupMe of Claver’s second floor, RA Ava Yotts said to residents that there was a pipe burst on the fourth floor and water was seeping through to the 3rd floor on the higher end of the building.
Later in the day, residents received updates confirming that water service had been restored. However, issues with hot water persisted in both residence halls. Facilities staff continued working to resolve the problem and continuously updated the residents.
The outages occurred the first day following the break, adding to the inconvenience for students settling back into campus life. Charles Sousa, Senior Associate Director of Housing Operations, acknowledged the disruption and apologized for the short notice and inconvenience caused to residents.
“The worst part was having the water shut off while I was trying to get ready,” said Febbraio. “That, and we just got hot water back.”