City water failure angers students

Dorms and many off-campus buildings were without water for hours. Hundreds of students on and near campus woke up yesterday morning during peak showering hours to discover that their water flow had slowed to a trickle or disappeared completely. The culprit: a water-main break 2 1/2 miles northwest of campus that left most dormitories and several other campus buildings without water for at least three hours. At about 8 a.m., a contractor working at 52nd Street and Parkside Avenue struck a high-pressure valve that supplies smaller water mains, according to Philadelphia Water Department spokesperson Joanne Dahme. This particular water main supplies the area west of the Schuylkill all the way to the airport, including the University area, she said. Some students reported that the water pressure did not get back to normal until as late as 3 p.m., even though the Water Department reported that the pressure was restored at 11 a.m. The department has a control center which monitors water pressure around the city. When the main was hit, workers at the center noticed the problem right away, Dahme said. "We also had people calling us saying that there was flooding at the intersection, or in their basements," she added. "Our initial concern was to shut the water main down," Dahme said yesterday afternoon. "That was done by 11 o'clock, and water pressure was restored. Now we're concerned with cleaning up. Many basements in the area were flooded, and we are pumping the water out right now." All of the dorms on campus were affected in some way. Students from every college house, as well as the two Sansom Place graduate towers, reported either low water pressure or no water at all as they were getting ready for midterms or classes. On-campus buildings were not the only ones affected. Many off-campus students reported a similar lack of water or water pressure yesterday morning. "We had water -- just really bad [water] pressure around 10 a.m. this morning," Engineering junior Jonathan Weinstock said. "I could have pissed on myself and gotten a better shower." Weinstock lives at 40th and Walnut streets and the problem appears to have affected many areas throughout the University City. Surprisingly, Dining Services was was not affected by this. None of the dining halls reported that they had any problems making breakfast or lunch yesterday. The reason for the sporadic nature of affected buildings is still unclear. Workers at the McNeil Building on Locust Walk reported that parts of the building were without water, while other buildings reported no problems. Officials from housing services were unavailable for comment on exactly which buildings were affected and to what extent. According to Dahme, the intersection of 52nd and Parkside will be closed for the next few weeks as the department finishes cleaning up the water that flooded the streets and buildings.

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