A water main break on South Orange Ave. caused a water outage in campus buildings and residence halls on Thursday night. Running water has been restored as of 10:29 a.m., Friday morning.
At 1:30 p.m., University Relations confirmed that all water service has been fully restored as of this afternoon.
Serra Hall lost water at around 6:50 p.m., John Henri Cartelli, a resident assistant in Serra Hall, said. University Relations confirmed that Bethany Hall, Fahy Hall and the University Center were also affected by the outage, while Cartelli confirmed Xavier Hall, Aquinas Hall, Boland Hall, Ora Manor and Turrell Manor were not.
In the email to the university community, University Relations said Facilities Engineering “coordinated closely” with New Jersey American Water and the town of South Orange to repair the break and restore service.
The Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) also responded to the scene, local residents claimed. Samantha (Sammi) Johns, a junior nursing major who lives in a house off campus, was impacted by the water outage. She said she spoke to a PSEG worker on the scene, who told her the pipe burst because fluctuating weather caused the pipes to expand and rupture.
The outage left students inconvenienced and frustrated. The Setonian posted via Instagram stories, asking for students to respond with their experience regarding the water outage.
Alfonso Malabag, a sophomore business major, responded to The Setonian via Instagram Direct Messages. He said he was unable to complete daily tasks such as “brushing and showering” due to the outage in Neumann. He added that he was unable to complete his laundry as he normally would.
“I had to bring my laundry stuff to Xavier that day, making back and forth trips in the process,” he said.
Residents of Cabrini, Neumann and Serra Halls received an email around 10:41 p.m. last night, notifying them of the water outage, which resulted from a “water main break in the area.”
In an email, Rohleder wrote that students would have 24/7 access to the University Center to "utilize the restrooms.” Residence Life also extended visitation hours in unaffected residence halls.
“You may visit a friend in another building to shower if you would like to,” Rohleder wrote. “Daytime visitation in all residence halls will be extended tonight until 2 a.m.”
At 10:06 a.m., Rohleder apologized for the “on-going disruption” in an email update, noting that the water company made the repair
“It will take some time for running water to fully return to your taps and we will follow up with an update as soon as functionality to the pipes inside the buildings is fully restored,” Rohelder wrote.
Rohleder urged students to call Facilities if they have any “emergency plumbing issues,” following the water restoration.
Dominique Mercadante is the Editor-in-Chief of The Setonian. She can be reached at dominique.mercadante@student.shu.edu.
Megan Pitt is the head editor of The Setonian’s News section. She can be reached at megan.pitt@student.shu.edu.
Rhyleigh Russell, assistant editor of The Setonian’s Features section, contributed to the reporting. She can be reached at rhyleigh.russell@student.shu.edu.
