Water pipe bursts on campus

Matt Wood / Copy Chief
About 12:45 p.m. today, a city of Denton water pipe burst and caused flooding on the sidewalks between Sage Hall and the Radio, Television, Film and Performing Arts Building.
Repairs to the pipe disrupted water service to Bruce Hall, the Life Sciences Complex, Sage Hall and the Hurley Administration Building, and shut down restrooms in the buildings until service was restored at about 4:50 p.m.
Kinesiology junior Sarah Mrazek said she saw workers attempting to fix the burst pipe.
“There was just a bunch of water spewing out, and people were trying to figure out where it was coming from,” she said.
UNT facilities executive David Reynolds said the break was because of the wet weather and change in temperature. He said soil in this area has high clay content, and that caused it to move more when the rain came in.
“As you get rain and moisture you get movement of the soil,” he said. “Over time, you get breakage of the pipes.”
Reynolds said the age of the pipes also contributed to the burst.
Environmental science doctoral student and teaching assistant Abhishek Kala said the water disruption could have negatively affected his microbiology lab.
“It would definitely impact the lab, because you need water for doing your regular tests,” he said.
Feature photo: City of Denton employees work to fix the broken water pipe that caused a flood in between Sage Hall and the Radio, television and film building this afternoon. Photo by Harris Buchanan / Staff Photographer
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