For those students, faculty and staff who saw the water outside the Science Building please know: USM is not installing a new water park. A break in a water main created a small river on Falmouth Street and flooded the basement of the Sullivan Sports Complex on Monday.
“It’s the old line that used to serve the Science Building,” said David Barbour, director of Facilities Management. The University disconnected the main from within the building so it could serve as a back up if anything were to go wrong with the new water line. According to Barbour, the pipe froze and subsequently burst. This caused water to bubble up from under the Science Building. The pipe was buried about six or seven feet under the drive beside the building. This area did not have snow cover insulating the ground, which allowed the frost to reach that far down.
Facilities Management decided not to repair the line after shutting off the water. “We’ll probably have to do some work in the spring,” said Barbour. In spring the pipe will most likely be disconnected from the building.
According to Barbour, little to no property damage was done and the major cost of the incident was labor. He did not estimate the cost for labor.
Although the calamity was unexpected and a mess to clean up, Barbour seemed to take it in stride.
“It could have been a more relaxing day if it hadn’t happened,” he said.