Many students and faculty were scrambling to find an open bathroom or working water fountain in the Humanities building today after 10:30 a.m.

Mary Park Hall residents who did not hear a 10 a.m. intercom announcement may have found themselves waterless.

A water pipe at 800 Font Boulevard broke today around 10 a.m., said Mike Curran, customer service supervisor for Facilities and Service Enterprises.
The office of the dean of Humanities said no one informed them prior to bathrooms being locked without signs.

“As far as I knew, we (Humanities) did not know anything about it,” said Thomas Guynes of the dean of humanities' office.

“All the girls were rushing to shower,” said Amy Thornton, who lives in Mary Park Hall.

Thornton, 18, a psychology major, said a voice over the intercom told everyone in the building they had 20 minutes before the water was shut off.

On the second floor of the Humanities building, Nya Gill, communications student, found herself in front of a locked bathroom door with no closed sign on it.

“As a student here I should not have to leave a building to use the bathroom,” Gill said, "especially when I’m hungry and I have class in 20 minutes.” All of Gill's classes take place in the Humanities building.

Kathy Dalheim, administrative support for the Humanities mail room, said she also fielded calls and directed lost individuals.

“I called the Planning Office and they said it was a big water problem,” Dalheim said.

Mary Park Hall resident Rose Kleiner, 18, said she woke up to the intercom.

“I wish you could just smell our collective breath right now,” Kleiner said, smoking with two friends outside Mary Park Hall.

“I had to wake up to the intercom saying there was no water.
And it was definitely worse than my alarm clock,” she said.

Around 2 p.m., six construction workers from SF State Planning Office and an off-campus plumber from Ledda Plumbing drained a five-foot ditch, but did not reach the broken water pipe.

Evan Christensen of Plant Operations said broken pipes are routine. A pipe broke in the administration building last Tuesday and three weeks prior, a pipe broke in the plant operations building.

At 3:50 p.m., Alex Davidson, Mary Park Hall receptionist, said water in Mary Park Ward was shut off.

Davidson said he received about 15 phone calls in five hours regarding discolored water or no water at all.

Additional reporting by Morgan Duffin