The water on AU’s main campus will be shut off from about midnight to 5 a.m. on Tuesday following a pipe break on Monday, according to a memo sent to the AU community by Vincent Harkins, the assistant vice president of the University’s Facilities Management.
The water shutoff will affect every building on main campus, but it will not affect Katzen Arts Center, Spring Valley Building, Nebraska Hall and East Campus, the memo stated. The air conditioning to the residence halls on main campus will also be shut off.
The broken pipe, which provides water for the Kay Spiritual Life Center, is located on the quad in the grass area between the Kogod and Kerwin buildings, Harkins told The Eagle.
“We didn’t know the line was there,” he said in an interview.
A contractor, hired by the university, will put a valve in place to stop the flow of water. Harkins did not provide the name of the contractor. The contractor discovered the broken pipe while working on a low-temperature hot water pipe system.
The water will not be shut off until midnight so that people in the residence halls and the Terrace Dining Room can have access to water on Monday evening, Harkins said.
Students staying in the Hughes, McDowell and Leonard residence halls are expected to be able to use portable toilets in front of Cassell Hall while the water is shut off, the memo stated. Portable toilets are also expected to be placed on the south side of the McKinley building, across from Letts Hall.
Students will also have access to ice and water bottles in the lobbies of the halls on main campus.
Harkins told The Eagle that there was “absolutely no way to avoid this” because of how old AU’s campus is: nearly 130 years. “Stuff breaks that you can’t control,” he said.
saustin@theeagleonline.com
