An unexpected break in an Ohio University main water line will cost more than $100,000 to repair, according to projected figures from administrators.
The university is anticipating a collapsed storm water line on West Green will cost $120,000 to repair, said Harry Wyatt, associate vice president for Facilities. The 32-inch line, which is 15 feet underground, drains much of the water from the green into the Hocking River, and its collapse earlier this month created a sinkhole in The Convo’s Parking Lot 127.
“We have investigated this storm water line via camera under the parking lot and up to Parks Hall,” Wyatt said in an email. “There is a section that is blocked that might cause problems in the future. That section should have more slope to the line as well.”
The money for the repairs will come out of OU’s emergency fund, which is a $15-million biennial allocation for deferred maintenance and major repairs.
Last fall, Wyatt estimated OU has upwards of $500 million in deferred maintenance in its infrastructure throughout campus, and that much of it would remain untouched until there were a major problem.
Wyatt said the costs have not been finalized for this break, as the sidewalks and landscapes have not been restored. The break prompted a closure of South Shafer Street for eleven days while the pipe was unearthed and investigated.
“We will plan a project to open/repair/rework this section sometime in the near future,” Wyatt said in the email. “There is little chance the area that we have replaced that jeopardized Shafer Street will fail again within the next 20 years.”
The city was able to minimize the impact of the damaged pipe and closure of Shafer Street, said Andy Stone, Athens’ director of Public Works.
“From a public safety perspective, we wanted to make sure the folks knew the route was closed, particularly the inbound ambulance route to the hospital,” Stone said.
Stone said the university made West Green Drive available as a bypass, adding he didn’t hear of any major problems from the closure, which was expected to be a problem for traffic for most of the month.
“OU got it done about twice as fast as we expected them to,” Stone said.
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