On Wed., Aug. 20, the Upper School experienced an issue with the campus’s water supply. This issue persisted into the next week, with drinking fountains and sinks being affected.
The issue arose due to the start of the construction of new buildings at the Upper School. As the construction company began digging and preparing the land for building, it ran into an unforeseen problem that led to consequences for the entire school.
Mr. Kevin Jacobsen, Upper School Dean of Students, explains the direct root of the problems: “According to the construction company, there was a water pipe underground that was not plotted on their map, and they broke it while digging for the new building. Because of the damage, the water was not clean and needed repair.”
The broken water pipe led to the water being completely out for a few days, and then it needed to be filtered and reset before it became safe for students to drink again.
“I always saw the facilities team working around the school to fix the water, so I think they did a really good job handling it,” stated senior Catalina Sanchez.
Director of Facilities, Mr. Bruce Devlin, shares their solution to the water problem: “The issue was fixed by turning the water off and repairing the pipe.”
Although this issue was eventually resolved, the Benjamin administration and staff also offered temporary solutions to provide students with water and the ability to use the bathrooms.
“Water issues are a major problem in any capacity. We made sure we had water pressure for toilet use because we would’ve had to close without that. After that initial worry was solved, we focused on getting drinking water and hand sanitizer. It was not ideal, but closing for a few days would have been much more disruptive,” said Mr. Jacobsen.
Mr. Devlin also explains why the water took so long to be safe again, “We responded very quickly with the contractor and put a plan together so our students, faculty, and staff were safe. That was the most important thing! We had to get the water tested once it was turned back on for everyone’s safety.”
While this water outage was addressed, this event raises concerns about how the construction site could affect the Upper School and the community within it. These are being addressed by the Benjamin School team through more cautious planning and work.
Mr. Devlin is optimistic that these problems will be avoided in the future. “I never say never when construction is happening, accidents happen. That being said, we work very carefully to make sure they don’t happen.”
Mr. Jacobsen shares the belief, “It was an issue where a water pipe was positioned where they did not expect it. I hope the problem is behind us.”
The water outage was an unfortunate and chaotic event for the Benjamin community, but the administration and facilities team worked around the clock to create temporary and permanent solutions for the problem. This recent event leads to interesting concerns about how the new construction will coexist with the school in the future.
