Editor’s Note – 12:11 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30: At 11 a.m. this morning, students received an email from Director of Facilities Nathan Salazar announcing that the east entrance of Robinson Hall will be closed “to conduct additional drying and sanitation measures in the area affected by the recent backup.” The entrance will be closed from 5:45 p.m. today through Labor Day.
On the first day of classes, students, staff and faculty were unable to use any of the bathrooms in Robinson Hall. Due to flooding on the ground floor, bathrooms were closed in the building on Monday and were reopened Wednesday morning.
Students were notified of the restoration of water and sewer services to the building in an email from Director of Facilities Nathan Salazar at 9:55 a.m. In the email, Salazar said the impacted area is still being cleaned, adding that “the men’s ground floor bathroom will remain out of service until the tile floor is repaired.”
All bathrooms in the building were initially closed after Director of Maintenance Jim Diaz said Facilities responded to a call at around 8:10 a.m. concerning “black stuff coming up from the drain” in one of the ground floor bathrooms.
He added that because every bathroom in the building drains down to the same pipe, all of the facilities in Robinson Hall had to be closed to find the blockage. He also said it was difficult to find the issue because of a manhole between the building’s sewer system and the blockage pipe, the manhole itself was covered in grass, completely unknown to facilities.
“I don’t think that thing’s been uncovered in 15 years,” Diaz said.
The door of the women’s bathroom on the second floor of Robinson Hall, taped shut with a notice (Photo by Bonnie Lord).
The blockage, Diaz said, likely solidified over the summer while the building was largely unused, and the rapid reuse of the facilities on the first day of classes caused the flooding.
Plumbing and water clean-up company Roto-Rooter was called, and according to Diaz, found the blockage “300 feet out in the middle of nowhere” across Hannah St. Tuesday morning.
After discovering the manhole, the water was drained and the blockage was cleared with a water jet. However, the Robinson Hall bathrooms were not reopened immediately. According to Diaz, while trying to find the blockage, a snake, a long tool used to navigate and clear drains, got stuck in the system.
“Otherwise, everything’s clear,” Diaz said.
This has not been a problem for Robinson Hall in years prior, Diaz said and hasn’t been a problem anywhere else on campus this year.
“We have very old infrastructure, so there’s always a risk,” Diaz said. “Just like the condensate line last year, there’s always a risk of something.”
The Pleiad reached out to faculty and staff with offices in Robinson Hall on Aug. 27, who either declined to comment or were unable to comment in time for publication.
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