A ruptured underground pipe in the Sanford Institute of Public Policy building Wednesday morning caused a sewage leak that seeped into the Fleishman Commons, the Sanford Deli and first-floor restrooms.
As a result of the leak, all water in the building was turned off.
"There was water all across the [Fleishman] Commons, and definitely not clean water," said Alison Hoenk, a graduate student in public policy, noting that it had a "definite sewage stench."
Signs posted in the building directed people to use restrooms in Rubenstein Hall next door to the Sanford building until further notice.
"We are experiencing a major plumbing problem, which has closed down the Sanford Deli," Kate Walker, Sanford Institute director's administrative assistant, wrote in an e-mail Wednesday morning to all public policy studies faculty, staff and students.
The mess in the Fleishman Commons area was cleaned up by "the equivalent of a hazardous material team," wrote Sandra Peters, the building's facilities manager, in another mass e-mail to the public policy department Wednesday afternoon.
She added that she did not expect the water to be turned on again until Friday.
"While the result of the problem is gone, the problem still remains," Peters wrote.
To add insult to injury, the building's air conditioning, which uses chilled water to operate, was also shut down.
"Because folks were continuing to use water in this building, the University facilities folks were forced to turn off the water in order to finish the sewer line repair work," David Arrington, associate director of finance and administration of Stanford Institute, wrote in an e-mail to all building residents. "Should your office become unbearably hot, then I recommend you go home."
Facilities management staff said the long-standing drought in North Carolina is to blame.
"It's not unusual for pipes to break when the earth gets dried out," said Gary Teater, the utilities and maintenance supervisor for the Sanford building.
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