Drainpipe Clogs, Spewing Sewer Water Over Eliot-H

The first floor of Eliot House's H-entry flooded with sewage water last weekend when a six-inch drain line was blocked.

Water backed up within the pipe and was forced through the sewage system's ejectors Saturday night. It eventually poured out of the toilets and sinks of the first-floor women's bathroom. The water swamped the carpets in the entry-way and, according to residents, seeped into both the junior common room and the small dining room.

Maintenance workers propped open the doors to the entry-way, releasing odors and letting frigid air into the entry. The workers pulled the carpets outside and brought in various machines and tools. The sewage problem lasted until Sunday morning, when two emergency plumbers, Tom Wiley and Charlie Mourn, sent a clearing device through the clogged pipe.

An emergency custodial crew, sent by Building and Maintenance in Thayer Hall, had cleaned up the entry way by 5 p.m. Sunday. "I saw them spraying Lysol and other disinfectants, the combination of which was not too nice," said Chris Brown, a resident tutor of history in H-entry. Residents as high as the third floor complained of odors.

"There was a good couple of inches of sewage water," said Andrea Piperakis '90 of H-entry. "My roommates wore plastic bags to protect their feet."

"It was foul," Brown said. "It took them more than a day so the smell seemed to gather in intensity."

Though no permanent damage was done, many residents still complained of a lingering odor yesterday. "Before it smelled like awful toilet water but now it smells like a sanitized bathroom," said Ohsang Kwon '90.

Jim Miner, trade supervisor of the Facilities and Maintenace depart-