The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Thursday, March 28, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

South Campus dorms left with boil-water advisory after scheduled water outage

water main break

Jones Ferry Road is closed between Bim Street and Barnes Street in Carrboro while crews are on site working on a main water line break Monday, Nov. 5, 2018. 

Hinton James and Ram Village 5 residence halls experienced a scheduled water outage Tuesday night, leaving many students without running water.  

Orange Water and Sewer Authority — which provides water services to the Carrboro-Chapel Hill community — placed the dorms under a boil-water advisory once the water was restored Wednesday morning. The advisory will remain in effect until testing can be completed, which is expected to conclude Wednesday night.

“The pipe work finished around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, but as a precaution, the dorms were placed under the boil-water advisory to ensure no contaminants got into the water during the replacement,” said Linda Low, OWASA communications and community relations officer. “Generally, there is no need to be concerned. The advisory is just a precaution, but this is why we provided the bottled water.”

About 1,200 residents were advised to cook, drink and brush their teeth with bottled water provided by the OWASA contractor and distributed by UNC Housing. Those living in the affected dorms were notified of designated pick-up zones for the bottled water. 

UNC Housing also informed affected residents that OWASA suggested boiling all tap water before consumption or use. 

“It was very annoying," Sam Anthony, a Hinton James resident, said. "They shut the water off at 11 p.m., but I don’t know anyone who goes to bed by then."

Beginning in late May, OWASA began a pipe replacement project on Manning Drive, which is expected to be completed by mid-October. 

Immediately following this project, OWASA will transition to replacing a water main pipe on Country Club Road, which runs through North Campus.  

“We complete pipe replacement to ensure the system gets maintained well and remains resilient to mitigate potential cracks or breaks,” Low said. “It was simply time to replace this portion of pipe that was on Manning Drive.”

Low said additional outages, similar to the one experienced this week, may occur within the next month before the Manning Drive project is completed. 

“If there are any planned outages, we will work with UNC Facilities to make sure people know about the projects and have (bottled) water,” Low said. “We want to be on top of replacing pipes as they age out. We replace them so we can mitigate any potential outages in the future.”

Each year, Low said OWASA invests about $20 million toward Capital Improvement Projects to maintaining and replacing pipes, in addition to upgrading water pumps, water treatment plants and technology. 

In lieu of last year’s OWASA water main break, Low said OWASA has worked to improve its Water Main Replacement Prioritization Model, which determines which pipes to replace. 

The Manning Drive project, however, has been on its radar prior to last year’s outage. 

“Water is so essential, but we all take it for granted and forget about it,” Low said. "But the minute it isn’t available, we remember how valuable it is. Because it's so essential for all of us, it’s all the more reason for us to ensure we’re replacing old pipes as they age out.”

university@dailytarheel.com

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.