Upon returning from Labor Day weekend, students and faculty at IU Southeast were greeted with an odor in Crestview Hall on Sept. 6. A toilet in the men’s bathroom on the third floor of the building overflowed late evening on Sept. 2.
During the holiday weekend, the air conditioning was turned off in the building, removing all air flow.
The water from the overflowed toilet leaked through all three floors and into the basement. It also leaked into the old IT offices area, which is now vacant.
The overflown toilet went untouched for three days, and it wasn’t until after Labor Day when the situation was found by IUS maintenance and custodians during routine rounds at 5:30 a.m.
“University Police would have locked the building sometime after classes on [Sept. 3,]” Jim Wolfe, physical plant director, said.
By Sept. 7, the stench had been removed from Crestview Hall, except for where it still lingered in the stairwells due to less air flow in that particular area. However, bathrooms in Crestview Hall are up and running now.
Wolfe also said he confirmed a rumor about certain bathrooms in University Center South that were closed down during the week before classes.
“All the men’s and women’s bathrooms on the east side of University Center South were closed to the public due to replacement of sewer lines from the building leading out to the main sewer line at IU Southeast,” Wolfe said.
In 2009, IU Southeast brought in an outside contractor to replace part of a sewer pipe due to a water main break east of Hillside Hall. IU Southeast was put on a boil order and closed the campus, canceling all classes for two days until the water results came back approved for use.
A boil order is usually a result of flooding, broken water lines or pumping difficulties in the plumbing. When this happens there is contaminated water, which can cause many illnesses. Therefore all water used for cooking and drinking must be boiled to decontaminate the water.
“About a year ago, I met with the IU Southeast maintenance staff to discuss recurring problems they had to repair regularly,” Wolfe said. “Some of the biggest problems discussed were sanitary sewer problems at University Center North, South and the northern housing lodges. I engaged IU engineers to look at each of these issues.”
Shiel Sexton, the original housing general contractor, corrected the housing sewer issue. However, a separate contractor was brought in to correct the remaining issues. All projects and repair were completed during summer 2011.
Maintenance at IU Southeast also encountered another problem in spring 2010.
“We noticed that flow down the drains in University Center South had become slow and that the floor drains in the lower level mechanical room had started to back up, so we ran a camera down the drain and found roots that had gotten stuck,” Wolfe said.
Maintenance ran a drain clean-out snake into the pipe to pull out the root.
“What they pulled out was a large root about 10 feet in length,” Wolfe said.
The camera from the snake also showed the sanitary sewer pipe was cracked near the building, with smaller cracks further down the line to the main pipe.
The pipe from University Center South connecting was replaced during summer 2011. The main pipe was also inserted with a lining to stop root entry in the future.
By TAYLOR FERGSUON
Staff
tayfergu@ius.edu
