On a hot 29th of August, Southern University encounters a day-and-a-half water outage due to leaks in the valve of the water system that leaves hundreds of students and faculty without water usage.
Ernest Bowman, the Residential Life and Housing assistant director of maintenance and facilities, revealed that the lack of water on campus started from a ruptured pipe by the band hall which was fixed before lunchtime. There were approximately 13,000 gallons of water per minute coming rushing through the pipes, Bowman vocalizes.
“So, I got a call at 9:15 a.m. on the 29th that the water was off…sometimes they will shut the water off during downtime to prepare while everyone’s sleeping. They didn’t tell us so after we researched a little more, there was the [first] leak between the bookstore and the band hall.” Bowman states. He continues, “That whole strip from the bookstore to the technology building, were out of water. But, everywhere else like T.T.Allain was fine.”
While the front of campus had water, the back of campus, where the apartments and dormitories such as Shade and Jones stand, did not have any. So the search was still on for Mr. Bowman, Residential Life and Housing, maintenance, and other school officials.
Maintenance and plumbing methodically retraced their steps going in the direction of the extensive water system, trying to see which valve had an issue with water flow.
The long process of digging up dirt and breaking through concrete at certain checkpoints, such as the checkpoints on campus, lasted until 5 p.m. that evening. Water started to come to the second checkpoint where there was also a water well located, and the Horace W. Moody Intramural Sports Complex finally received water.
But the search still wasn’t quite over yet.
Mr. Bowman, who is also the advisor for Southern University’s gospel choir, left choir practice and along with Associate Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs Dean of Students, Dr. Anthony Jackson went outside shortly after 9:30 p.m. with flashlights and walked everywhere in the back of campus. While trying to find the possible leak, they contacted contractors and went into control rooms in all the dormitories. At around 10:30 p.m., Bowman felt the movement and rumbling of water by the Horace W. Moody Intramural Sports Complex as this is where the main valve is located.
Bowman comments that Dr. Jackson said there was a massive amount of water going into the ravine as well as sounds of water from the sewage drain by the Health Center. So they moved forward.
It was now after midnight when Baton Rouge Water eventually came out to check the runoff water, which was chlorinated meaning that there was a break in the sewage system, and to open the sewage drain to see rushing water.
Behind the Baranco-Hill Student Health Center, the search party struck gold. Dr. Jackson stepped into a soft spot of grass where there was a second leak, eight feet under the surface, where concrete had broken off and crushed the pipe underneath it, ultimately stopping water flow.
“ So that’s why we couldn’t find it because the break was eight feet so it was gonna take a while for the ground to be saturated because of the weather making the ground so dry,” Bowman announces.
Early next morning, pipes and equipment were ordered so they could be replaced, and around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, water was restored.
“It was two ruptured pipes. There is 13,000 gallons [of water] per minute coming out of that pipe. So imagine the force of that coming out…and then some of the original pipes way down in the ground are cast-iron pipes.”
As Ernest Bowman and his crew run around all day in search of water, students and concerned parents have made their comments, whether it be on social media or via phone call to Mr. Bowman. Videos on TikTok of students joking that “Southern forgot to pay their water bill” and how Southern “always got something going on”.
Bowman stated that their parents were calling him nonstop asking about when the water would be turned back on, complaining, or fussing. “ Parents were calling here being irate saying ‘y’all need to do so and so’.”
Bowman also states how disheartening the comments have been towards Residential Life and Housing, blaming them for the water outage, especially in the media. “Instagram was just going like.. Whew. Housing didn’t break it, it happens you know! It’s just like when a pipe bursts in your home.”
However, as the campus was in complete frenzy, the executive cabinet of the Student Government Association came out to give students water and toilet paper.
Sa’Rya Travis, director of public relations for the Association for Women Students, empathizes by saying, “Personally, being without water for quite a few was overwhelming. Water is a necessity, especially being a woman, hygiene is the most important thing.”
She continues, “The mass water outage was a spontaneous crisis. Although we were without water for quite a few, leaders on and off campus came together to uplift those harmed by the crisis. I would like for the Southern University community to continue to uplift and cater to one another.”
Categories:
Left High and Dry: SU experiences campus-wide water outage
September 12, 2023
Story continues below advertisement
0
More to Discover