Students in residence halls across campus including Buckley Hall found discolored water in their their toilets and sinks on Wednesday mornings. Students have been plagued by water issues throughout the semester. (Jason Jiang/The Daily Campus)
Residents of Buckley and Shippee Halls, as well as Mansfield Apartments, woke up to find discolored water in their toilets and sinks on Wednesday morning.
“I went into the stall and thought ‘why didn’t someone flush?,’ either the toilet is peeing itself or something’s not right,” Zachary Mangold, a first-semester undeclared engineering major who lives in Buckley, said.
The water fountain in Buckley’s lobby was not working during the morning, Mangold said.
“I did [use the water in Buckley this morning] and I was a little disappointed in myself for stooping to that level, I didn’t have a choice,” Gabrielle Sheridan, a first-semester pre-teaching major, said.
The University of Connecticut received several reports of light-brown water in the areas, Stephanie Reitz, UConn spokeswoman, said.
“This is not unusual in cases when we flush water lines, conduct routine maintenance such as replacement of shower valves, and other work,” Reitz said.
The discoloration usually clears as the tap continues to run throughout the day and is not dangerous to use, Reitz said.
The water was running clearly by the afternoon but residents in Buckley South Tower were without water from late afternoon until 6:00 p.m.
Affected residents received an email from the hall director at approximately 5 p.m. informing them that they would be without water for the next hour and telling them to use the facilities in North Tower until then.
This is not the first time Buckley residents have had problems with their water.
“A few weeks ago, the water was really cold for three or four days, we had no hot water,” Sheridan said.
UConn has had problems with the water in several other areas since the start of the semester, including the detection of copper in the Stowe building of Hilltop Apartments, discolored water in Hilltop and Mansfield Apartments and a long-term issue with discolored water in the Cedar Ridge Apartments.
Anna Zarra Aldrich is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at anna.aldrich@uconn.edu. She tweets @ZarraAnna