Leonardtown Community residents faced high room temperatures, no water and other disturbances this week following a pipe leak underground in the New Leonardtown area.
Operations and Maintenance staff found out about the leak just before the start of the spring semester in January after discovering a loss of water in the mechanical room, Residential Facilities Director Jon Dooley said. Facilities Management staff had been excavating the area for about two weeks before locating the pipe near buildings 244 and 249 on Feb. 4.
Pipe repairs began Monday and were completed Wednesday, Dooley said, but staff continued working outside near the pipe on Thursday, said New Leonardtown resident Colleen Freyer, a sophomore enrolled in letters and sciences. Facilities Management turned hot water off at 9 a.m. on Tuesday and restored it at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dooley said.
Residential facilities suggested to residents in an email Tuesday to turn off their thermostats and set fans to automatic to stop the circulation of cold air after notifying them that heat would not be turned on until the following day. Staff returned to the apartments Thursday to check on the outcome of the repair, Dooley said.
Freyer and another Leonardtown resident, Isa Herold, said they were woken by loud construction outside their apartments throughout the week. Construction workers came in and out of Freyer’s apartment a few times on Wednesday, she said.
“They should find a way to complete work quicker because it got kind of annoying,” Freyer said.
But when outside temperatures reached 70 degrees, Herold, a sophomore computer engineering major, needed air conditioning and said her apartment was “hotter than ever” during the outage.
According to multiple residents, this is not the first time facilities issues have caused problems.
“There are usually a lot of issues with the water,” Freyer said. “It can take up to ten minutes to heat up the shower.” Herold added that she has also experienced delays in receiving hot water.
Facilities work usually doesn’t start before 9 a.m., and is evaluated to cause the least amount of disruption, Dooley said. However, construction equipment is bound to make noise, he added.
“There is a greater need for the community to have its hot water restored,” Dooley said. “It’s a balancing act trying to make sure that we cause the least impact while still trying to get the buildings back in line.”
Residential Facilities staff sent several emails to residents with updates on the progress of the pipe reparation and information about when work was scheduled to occur.
“The staff in residential facilities went through all of the New Leonardtown apartments today to make sure the heating system is working and the thermostats are set properly,” Dooley said. “The problem is finally taken care of.”
