By Mason Dare
The Scene staff
A water main that services the Center for Nursing and Health Sciences and physical education building broke on a recent Saturday, requiring St. Louis Community College to foot the repair bill.
Forest Park President Julie Fickas sent an alert to the campus community the following day, Sunday, Dec. 1, notifying students, faculty and staff that the buildings would be closed temporarily and that classes would be moved or canceled.
“There are many factors (that cause water main breaks), but the pipes are 65 years old now, and with the recent weather conditions, they burst,” said Facilities Manager Eric Wille.
Once the break was discovered in Parking Lot B, officials immediately shut off the water, according to Fickas. She reported that no flooding occurred in either of the two buildings, but classes couldn’t be held with no water.
Some classes were canceled. Others were moved online or to different classrooms in other buildings.
A repair crew contracted by the college came to the Forest Park campus on Monday, Dec. 2, to replace 20 feet of pipe.
The break was determined not to be the responsibility of the city of St. Louis because it was on college property, Fickas said. Therefore, STLCC will have to pay for repairs.
The nursing and P.E. buildings were back open and in full use by Wednesday, Dec. 4. The temporary closure had no effect on STLCC basketball practices, according to Fickas.
“It didn’t affect me, but for people who work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, it affected them,” said Dan Zapolski a marine biology student who works at the fitness center in the P.E. building.
“They still got paid for the days that they missed, so it was like a win-win situation.”