On Jan. 3, a waterline break caused flooding and subsequent damage to mechanical and electrical equipment needed for the functioning of the building in the basement of Bragaw Residence Hall. Students who were planning to live in Bragaw this semester have been relocated to alternate on-campus housing.
Peter Fraccaroli, the director of facilities planning and management in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, said the waterline rupture caused extensive damage to vital building utilities such as the HVAC system.
“That waterline ended up filling up the basement, probably about 5 to 6 feet of water,” Fraccaroli said. “So, our equipment — electrical gear, mechanical equipment — was all underwater. Obviously, those things don’t mix well and ended up destroying a lot of the equipment. We’re in the process right now of replacing electrical equipment, replacing pumps and other equipment that serve the HVAC for the building and provide electricity to the building.”
According to Fraccaroli, the flooding did not affect any dorm rooms as the waterline break occurred in the nonresidential areas of the building.
“The water damage was just in the mechanical rooms, so no student rooms or student spaces were damaged,” Fraccaroli said. “At the time when it happened, no one was living in the building.”
Fraccaroli said maintenance staff are still confirming the exact reason for the waterline malfunction, but they are fairly certain it was a result of a waterline break on Dan Allen Drive.
“There was a waterline break that was in Dan Allen,” Fraccaroli said. “When they turn it back on, sometimes there can be some debris that’s left in the line. When that ends up clogging a portion of the waterline, the waterline has a way to release water, and we think that is what happened, so we’ve tested that equipment. That equipment is working now, but that’s our primary reason why we think this happened in the basement.”
Students heard about the waterline break and subsequent flooding of Bragaw on Jan. 8, a mere week before move-in. Luckily, University Housing was able to reassign all affected students to another on-campus residence hall.
“We were able to relocate them within our existing buildings in a manner responsible, considering COVID, and make sure that we still have one person per room and the other requirements,” Fraccaroli said.
Angela Lian, a first-year studying biology, lived in Bragaw Hall during the fall semester and is disappointed to have to move to a new dorm.
“My expectations were just really set for Bragaw,” Lian said. “It was just one of my favorite rooms that I’ve been into.”
According to Lian, University Housing was very accommodating when she was reassigned to a new dorm.
“I had to request a different dorm to get assigned to Lee because the first dorm I got I wasn’t very happy with,” Lian said. “Housing was really lenient with where I wanted to go, which was really nice.”
It is unknown how long the repairs will last. All that Fraccaroli knows is that it won’t happen quickly, due to the amount of damage done to some vital building utilities.
“We’re at the beginning of the restoration of utilities for that building,” Fraccaroli said. “It’s going to take us a little while to figure out. It’s not going to happen in the next couple of weeks. We’re going to be working on this for the spring semester, and we’re still developing timelines. But there’s a lot of damage that was done, so it’s going to take a while to repair this.”
To make the process as timely as possible, the University plans to hire an engineer to develop cost estimates and timelines in an attempt to measure what needs to be done to restore the building. Eventually, a contractor will make the necessary replacements and repairs to get Bragaw up and running for the foreseeable future.
