Marietta Middle School and multiple buildings on the Marietta College campus were without water for a couple of hours Wednesday after a water line was broken during construction of a parking lot at the college.
Jeff Kephart, Marietta's water superintendent, said a subcontractor installing a light post drilled through a 12-inch water line at the lot, being built next to the college's new Harrison Hall dormitory. The break occurred around 10:45 a.m.
A 16-inch line nearby maintained service to nearby businesses, including Tim Horton's and the College Burrito Company, but service was lost to several buildings on campus and the middle school.
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EVAN BEVINS The Marietta Times
City of Marietta workers use a vac truck to clean water and debris from a hole in their efforts to repair a waterline break at Marietta College Wednesday afternoon.
The line was repaired by 2:15 p.m. Kephart said the subcontractor, who he did not identify, would be responsible for the costs incurred by the city.
"I'll have to work up an invoice and bill them accordingly for time, equipment and materials," he said.
No classes at the college were impacted, said MC director of college relations Tom Perry, but students could not use water in Harrison, McCoy Hall, the McCoy Athletic Center and the Gathering Place.
Classes continued at the middle school, with adjustments made to provide water to students.
"We stock bottled water for emergencies like this for kids to drink," said Dave Davis, transportation, buildings and grounds manager for Marietta City Schools.
Students were limited to using the restrooms on the first floor, and a tank of water was brought to the school so those toilets could be flushed using buckets.
Davis said it would not have been feasible to send the students home.
"(It would) be two hours before I could get all my (school bus) drivers in here to get them back home," he said.
