What’s that smell? Clogged sewage pipes causes flooding in Stewart Hall; Plumbling issues also reported in Hayden Hall.

There were only two custodians visible on the scene as about an inch of sewage water covered the first floor of Stewart Hall on Friday, February 6. Newspapers were piled in front of doors in an effort to prevent classrooms and offices from taking on any more water, and the smell of sewage emanated throughout the building.
Employees attempted to work through these conditions, struggling to make their way in and out of their offices. Custodians worked through their allotted lunch breaks in order to get the situation under control, which began early Friday morning.
Although there were many staff members in the building during the incident, all refrained to comment.
According to Stewart Hall staff, the building has had plumbing issues for at least a week, including overflowing toilets and clogged floor drains in restrooms. Plumber and Pipefitter Master Carl Collins confirmed the existence of the piping issues in the hall.
“There’s no way to pinpoint these locations,” said Collins. “There was no way it could have been prevented. This is one of those things that happens, and you deal with it then.” said Collins.
The most serious of the damage caused by the flood was a ceiling tile that fell apart after taking on water. The pieces were removed, although the hole remains. Sanitation was the main concern of the maintenance staff, and the floors have been repeatedly mopped and disinfected before students and staff returned to the building for classes on Monday morning.
“There was no computer or wall damage or anything of that sort,” Collins confirmed.
Although the cause is undetermined, Collins’ believes it is due to paper product blockages in the piping obstructing the water flow. This caused the water to remain stagnant in the pipes until overflowing back through toilets and floor drains. The real cause won’t be determined until Collins runs a camera through the pipe, enabling him to see the inside and the actual problem.
The same issue occurred in Hayden Hall on Monday morning, but with fewer students in that hall than in Stewart, the problems remained contained inside the restrooms. Collins believes these problems can be attributed to the age of some of the buildings on Southern’s campus, and how long ago the piping systems were installed.
The severity of the situation in Stewart could possibly be attributed to the influx of students in Stewart since the closing of DeBose Hall, but Collins doesn’t feel that way. Plumbers are currently working on the pipes to remedy the situations.