Adams House Awakes to Find Water Outage

Some students in Adams House awoke to a surprise yesterday.

According to students, the water in entries A and B was unexpectedly turned off sometime between 9 and 9:30 a.m., much to the dismay of students trying to take showers before their morning classes.

At press time, there was no official word on why the pipes went dry.

Stephen E. Tsoneff '97, a resident of A-entry, said the water was off for at least half an hour.

Eric D. Albert '97, who lives in B-entry, said his water was brown until 3 p.m.

Some students said the problems with the water were traumatic.

M. Odei Odotei '97-'98 said he was in the midst of washing his hair when the water shut-off. He said he had to rinse off in the sink.

Frank Blithe '97, who lives in Bentry, said he pitied anyone who had to sit next to him today since he was unable to shower.

"It was unbelievable [and even] appalling," he said.

Albert managed to take his shower at about 3 p.m. He said that, until that point, the water was "shitty."

The superintendent of Adams House could not be reached yesterday afternoon for official comment.

Of course, students offered their own explanations for why the water was shut off.

Albert said he thought that Cambridge had to clean out sewage pipes because there was "nasty water in the pipes."

Shirley Park '98 said she believed the problem was a result of "rust from the pipes [combined with] no water pressure."

Nonetheless, Adams' residents said the water loss is not an uncommon event in the house.

Kevin C. Murphy '97, who is a Crimson editor, said it happened at least twice this winter.

The severity of the water loss yesterday varied.

While some students were left with no water, others found that their water was brown-colored, cold or lacking in pressure.

"The water [was] kind of chocolate-milky," Tsoneff said.

Students were not warned, according to Jason W. Park '97, a resident of A-entry.

"We didn't have any water this morning," he said. "I wasn't aware they were doing anything."

Tsoneff said a maintenance worker came to his room shortly after the water was shut-off to check to see if the water was working.

The problems from earlier in the day extended to residents outside of entries A and B.

Tsoneff said that the dining hall had no water for the juice machines and that boxed juices were distributed for breakfast.

By dinnertime, however, students said the water seemed to be back to normal.