By Amanda-Marie Quintino
There was more than just leaky water dripping from the RAC’s showers two weeks ago, when a burst pipe flooded the Quad and seeped into the RAC.
An underground pipe, which connects to the RAC’s sprinkler system, ruptured on Feb. 17 because of the extreme cold. In spite of the size of the pinhole leak, water eroded soil and created an eight-foot by six-foot depression in the earth, in addition to waterlogging ceiling tiles in the RAC, explained Bruce Piercey of university advancement.
Director of Campus Planning and Facilities Manny Ravinsky said overall damages will cost about $25,000 to repair, and shrubbery including trees had to be dug up so the water main could be restored.
Ryerson President Claude Lajeunesse called the flood “a non-event” and stressed that it”was perfectly normal, day-to-day business” at a campus of almost 2 million square-feet of labs and space. But Ravinsky said the problem is larger, and the university had to call in external help from an excavator and a plumbing repair contractor.
“A ‘day to-day pipe break’ when there’s a huge excavation where there’s mass flooding in the quad? No,” he said, when asked whether the leak was just a minor issue. The morning of the flood, Ryerson closed down the RAC and staff was held up while Toronto Water shut off water and did maintenance work.
For Miruna Miller, a customer experience representaitve at the athletic centre, the biggest problem was that she couldn’t use the restroom for pretty much the whole day. Water also entered the women’s staff locker room. “Unfortunately for me, (the leak) was directly above my locker,” said Jane Brown of sports and recreation at the RAC, adding only a few other lockers were affected.
“Water got in, so I had to do some extra laundry I wasn’t anticipating.”
Though Ravinsky said everything is now back in working order, resodding and resetting of pavers needs to be done in the spring, all of which will be included in the $25,000 repair.
“That is more or less the cost of the whole extravaganza,” he said.
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