Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
More than 175 feet of digging by the University of Maine’s grounds and plumbing department proved a corroded water pipe was the culprit of a breakage and leak outside Gannett Hall Tuesday, March 25.
“Water from the ground seeped in through the basement walls. It had melted the snow outside and water started to show up on the lawn,” Dave Ricker, plumbing supervisor, said. “You could tell something was leaking out there.”
UMaine’s grounds and plumbing department was called to figure out the extent of the problem. Once they began digging in front of the residence hall, workers realized the problem was holes in the water pipe from corrosion.
Once workers dug about 40 feet, they still saw holes in the pipe and continued digging until they reached 175 feet, where the holes stopped, according to Ricker.
“Usually it’s just a single break and you can repair that in one spot and that’s it. But once we dug it up, we kept finding more and more holes in the pipe and it was rusting,” Ricker said.
The water pipe was said to be so corroded because where the pipes lay underground in front of Gannett Hall is where a landfill was located. Within this landfill, workers found trash such as cans, bottles and newspapers, surrounded by coal ash.
“They put [the coal ash] right around the pipe, which was the big problem,” Ricker said. “If they’d used good dirt right around the pipe we’d probably have been ok.”
Ricker assumes this is where the ashes from a heating plant were once discarded. To his knowledge, this is the only building on campus that has a landfill and coal ash located on its property near water pipes.
“It was in real bad shape,” Ricker said. “We’d found places where we’d replaced before that had many holes in them again.”
In order to dig all the way around the residence hall as deep as 175 feet, one tree was cut down and another was trimmed.
“We had to cut that down in order to get the excavator there to dig it out, because that’s where the water pipe had so many holes,” Ricker said.
The road in front of the residence hall was also blocked during working hours for several days.
A new ductile iron water pipe replaced the old cast iron pipe. It was put into the ground and surrounded by sand instead of the preexisting coal ash. A new water valve was also replaced, as the old one was leaking, according to Ricker.
“We don’t usually end up replacing that much pipe. That’s not normal. Usually there’s a hole in one small part, and you repair that,” Ricker said. “It’s kind of unusual. We didn’t plan on digging up 175 feet from the start.”
Holes in water pipes are common, especially after long, cold winters, according to Ricker.
Gannett’s water was turned off for a few hours Tuesday, but was soon hooked up to the fire hydrant in front of the building by using 400 feet of fire hose from the Orono Fire Department.
Residents could then use toilets, sinks and showers. Since the nights were warmer, the water was left on.
“It’s worked out pretty good. At least it kept them in water, which is the big thing for a dorm,” Ricker said.
As of Friday afternoon, Gannett’s water was still supplied through the fire hydrant. Ricker said he is waiting for someone to test the hall’s water from the new water pipe to make sure it is safe to drink.
A specialist will test the water this morning and the water should be switched from the fire hydrant back to the new water pipe some time Tuesday, according to Ricker.
Though the problem was located and fixed, it was not without some inconvenience to several Gannett residents.
“I know a lot of people agree with me that this has definitely been a nuisance. I think getting woken up every morning is starting to get old,” Michelle Gallant, a Gannett resident, said.
“The workers did a good job of getting that hose hooked up as soon as they did,” Lynn Montgomery, president of Gannett’s hall governing board, said. “The lack of water was definitely an inconvenience, but everyone survived. Let’s just hope it doesn’t happen again anytime soon.”
