Water main breaks
shut down college
Photo by Steve Shellenberg
This water leak in the south parking lot affected the college’s water for sinks,
drinking fountains and restrooms, thereby cancelling all classes for the day.
Two water main breaks closed North Lake College twice in early January.
One of the breaks resulted from construction work that possibly will shrink campus parking areas later this year, officials said.
On Jan. 2, a member of the main campus staff reported water fl owing from the southwest parking lot, adjacent to the golf course. There was no damage to college buildings, but the school was shut down the next day for emergency repairs and remained closed through Jan. 6.
Three days later, a contractor working on the C-building expansion hit a six-inch fire-service line and closed the campus for half a day. That repair took only three hours, said John Watson, North Lake’s director of facilities management.
Watson said soil movement and the type of clay that surrounds North Lake caused the first break.
“When wet, the clay expands. When dry, it shrinks,” Watson said.
The clay also forms layers that shift, sometimes causing problems for underground pipes.
North Lake’s key water main is 30 years old and supplies all the water to the main buildings of the college – except the library, which has two of its own water mains. With funds from the Dallas County Community College District’s 2004 bond program, Watson hopes to have a new water main installed parallel to the old one.
Like the library’s two water mains, one main campus line would be used for domestic water and the other as a fire-service line.
Watson hopes to connect the water mains from the library to the ones feeding the main campus in order to complete a loop around the school. Isolation valves in the loop should allow the college to control sections of the water line in the event a water main breaks.
“If one section were to break, the school wouldn’t have to shut down all its operations to repair it,” explained Watson.
The total cost of the improvements could stretch to more than $500,000. All money would be taken out of the bond program and would not affect North Lake students.
Wintermester classes, however, were affected by the water main breaks.
Most students and staff just left the campus. But one adjunct instructor and several students continued class at the West Campus, said Martha Hughes, vice president of student services and enrollment management.
Other teachers came up with a variety of ways to make up the missed class time.
“The students and faculty were very understanding,” said Hughes. “It’s not like we [just] made a decision to shut down the campus. We had to.”
Water main breaks aren’t the only problems that North Lake will face this year. There may be parking woes ahead for both students and staff.
Already, 170 parking spaces have been lost as a staging ground for supplies and equipment needed for the ongoing C-building expansion. But parking isn’t an acute problem yet. “There has been a surplus of parking spaces,” said Watson. “Even on a busy day there [can be] up to 100 empty spots.”
But after the faculty and staff lot is closed for construction of the new G-building this summer or fall, the school will lose another 139 spots, eliminating any surplus.
Campus officials do not yet know where the faculty and staff lot will be located.
“[We are] still exploring two to three options,” said Christa Slejko, vice president of community and economic development. “It’s going to be a hard [decision]. We need to get busy.”
DART rail lines are creeping closer to the campus over the next three years, and Watson said he hopes that will reduce the parking demand.
If push comes to shove, officials said, the college has a design for a new parking lot. It would be built across from the library at the fourway stop on the south side of the campus. A lot at that location would provide an extra 239 parking spots.
But Watson said that plan is not likely to be used soon because North Lake has no extra funds to pour into parking spaces.
North Lake will lose even more parking spots the week of April 20, when the Professional Golf Association (PGA) hosts the Byron Nelson Tournament, officials said. The school will lend the PGA the entire north parking lot for the weeklong event.
“The college is reviewing parking and how to accommodate the Byron Nelson while keeping priority [for] the faculty, staff, and students,” Watson said.