HOLLY BURDICK
Special to The Leader
Peace has been restored to Fredonia, as the flooding at Rockefeller Arts Center has been cleaned up. Recent email updates clarified that the water can be used and consumed.
“Water service has been restored at the Rockefeller Arts Center,” the email read. As of Oct. 30, the issue had been resolved.
The flooding happened early in the morning on Oct. 25. There were emails sent out warning the campus about the event and to be wary that classes may be changed.
An email from Finance and Administration sent to the listserv on Oct. 25 stated, “Water is currently off at the Rockefeller Arts Center … Please do not use the drinking fountains until the repairs are complete and reconnected to the normal water supply.”
Rumor had it that the construction had caused the pipe to break. It was noted that the pipe leaked simply due to old age. The pipe system is the original system that was built in the late ‘60s.
“The water service to that building comes in below the floor slabs of the basement area,” Paul Agle, Capital Project Manager, said. So when the pipe leaked, “for whatever reason,” in Agle’s words, it came up through any cracks that were present.
Luckily, there was not much damage. The floor tiles survived, but a very small portion of carpet was destroyed, and a few personal items that were left on the floor were damaged. Thankfully, no props or costumes were damaged. This was a concern, since the leak happened less than two weeks before the upcoming opening of the next mainstage, but the show will go on. The personal items were just simple things like notebooks.
Agle and Markus Kessler, Director of Facilities Planning, explained that the biggest cost for the fix was the amount of labor it took to clean it up. There were many people present to vacuum the water and strip the floor to get it ready. This needed to be completed quickly in order to prepare the space for classes the following Monday morning.
The exact price of the repair is unknown because the time and material needs to be calculated. The number of people that were there, the amount of hours they have been there and the cost of materials need to be taken into consideration.
“We’re not really concerned about those costs because the project’s picking that up,” Kessler claimed.
The plan was to put a new water line in Rockefeller, though this pipe was unable to wait that long. Consequently, a temporary line was put in that came from the new addition to Rockefeller. Because the construction is far enough along, there was just an extension put on the temporary line. It was an issue that needed to be fixed as soon as possible.
For a while the campus was told to not consume the water.
A second email sent out informing the campus of the relevant issue, reading: “For your safety, signs have been posted at all drinking fountains … Restrooms and sinks throughout the building are functional.”
Before the temporary line was installed, the building was getting water from a fire hose. This violated a health code, therefore no consumption was allowed.
Now, the new temporary line is installed, and the water is safe to drink. Within the academic year, the new permanent line should be installed.