UConn Responds To Contaminated Water At Cedar Ridge

[Drew]

UConn responds to contaminated water at Cedar Ridge with help for students

As of Wednesday, students in Cedar Ridge were still without clean water, according to seventh-semester journalism and communications major Salma Yousif who created the Facebook post that originally sparked interest in the plight of students at Cedar Ridge.

“It’s still super yellow, banana yellow, it’s really bad,” Yousif said.

The results from the tests run on the water show that the samples taken from Cedar Ridge Apartments exceed the Secondary Contamination Limit in both color and turbidity, according to the Microbac Laboratory Inc. Analytical Data Report given to Yousif and her roommate.

Yousif said she learned about Cedar Ridge at a UConn off-campus housing fair and visited the model unit before moving in. The reality that she and many other students are living with now is quite a different picture.

“It feels like I’ve been deceived,” Yousif said. “I came to Cedar Ridge because it looked comfortable, affordable, and it looked safe, it looked like somewhere I could live, and now I’m just trying to do the most to get out.”

 

[Drew]

Not just off campus either...

More student housing apartments see discolored water issues

Students in Hilltop Apartments at the University of Connecticut began their morning on Tuesday with the unsettling sight of brown water coming out of their faucets. Despite this fact, some students still used the water to shower, brush their teeth and even make their coffee.

“I used the water to make my coffee and it tasted great,” Lily Skou, a UConn senior majoring in physics and human rights and resident of the Novello Building in Hilltop, said.

Skou said she noticed the discolored water yesterday morning when she turned the bathroom sink on.

One student even sent in a photograph of a towel he used to dry himself off with after showering in his apartment, revealing clearly-visible brown stains on the towel.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Water supply has always been an issue for UConn going back to the UConn 2000 project that resulted in the first significance increases in the number of on-campus students since the 70's when Alumni and McMahon residence halls were opened. With even more students and the on-going drought in the northeast, this is no real surprise.

 

[Drew]

Residence halls continue to experience water issues

Residents of Buckley and Shippee Halls, as well as Mansfield Apartments, woke up to find discolored water in their toilets and sinks on Wednesday morning.

“I went into the stall and thought ‘why didn’t someone flush?,’ either the toilet is peeing itself or something’s not right,” Zachary Mangold, a first-semester undeclared engineering major who lives in Buckley, said.

The water fountain in Buckley’s lobby was not working during the morning, Mangold said.

“I did [use the water in Buckley this morning] and I was a little disappointed in myself for stooping to that level, I didn’t have a choice,” Gabrielle Sheridan, a first-semester pre-teaching major, said.

The University of Connecticut received several reports of light-brown water in the areas, Stephanie Reitz, UConn spokeswoman, said.

“This is not unusual in cases when we flush water lines, conduct routine maintenance such as replacement of shower valves, and other work,” Reitz said.

The discoloration usually clears as the tap continues to run throughout the day and is not dangerous to use, Reitz said.