Forest Quad water undergoes testing

After experiencing a water outage for a number of hours Friday, residents of Forest Quad still await the return of drinking water.

Forest’s water fountains have been off since last Friday afternoon after an construction mishap led to the shutting off of the water lines. 

“Construction hit a pipe and the water was shut off as an emergency for about two hours,” Forest Quad Residence Manager Allyson Rafanello said.

Though water is now running in Forest once again, trash bags have been placed over water fountains on every floor. They are to keep the students from drinking the water until it has been properly tested. The tests are state-mandated to ensure nothing has contaminated the water during the pipe break, Rafanello said.

“We’re waiting for it to pass two state tests,” said Rafanello.  “We hope to know by Wednesday and, by the latest, Thursday.”

Students living in Forest have responded to the outage. Freshman Ellie Symes was angry with the shutoff, she said.

“Seriously, I drink about eight glasses every day, and as an environmental management major, the fact that I’m forced to buy water bottles to drink in my dorm instead of filling up my water bottle upsets me,” she said. “I’ve honestly spent most of my time either on campus or at my boyfriend’s.”

Some students are making do with the situation at hand.

“It’s an inconvenience,” sophomore Josh Clampitt said. “But I just take a water bottle to class and fill it up.”

Junior Alec Leggio shared a similar opinion.

“It’s not affecting me so much,” he said. “I have bottled water in my room. It sucks for the coffee pot, having to use bottled water, but it doesn’t affect me that much.”

The construction inside and behind Forest caused the recent problem. 

“The construction in the center is a huge dining renovation,” Rafanello said. “It should be wonderful in a year, it’s just not fun now.”

Construction on a new group of micro restaurants, a classroom, an academic help center, recreational spaces and a new Movies, Music and More location is all underway . 

A target opening date is set for next fall, Rafanello said.

Forest staff is currently working on bringing water back to the residents.

“We try really hard to let students know about outages, and what happened Friday was unplanned,” she said. “We recognize the inconveniences.”