Dillon Mall leak

By Samantha Zellers

On November 10 a water leak broke out on the second floor of campus above the Dillon Mall, in a closet in the art department. 

The Maintenance and Custodial departments worked together to locate and fix the leak, and Supreme Cleaners was called to work on removing the water. The Police Academy was recruited to assist in moving furniture and supplies from the affected areas.

While Sauk Valley Community College is no stranger to water leaks, this one wasn’t caused by rain, which is the usual suspect. According to Gene Dodson, who works with the college’s Custodial department, this leak was actually thirty years in the making.

The heating system in Sauk is dependent on hot water circulation. The hot water travels through pipes throughout the building, and then is sent back down to the basement level to be reheated and reused. 

Thirty years ago, someone who no longer works with the college removed the part that connected the main pipeline to the return pipeline and didn’t seal it up. It remained undiscovered because that person also turned the switch to block the hot water from flowing to those pipes. For thirty years, that area remained unheated and unconnected to the water flow, but because the Maintenance departments received no complaints about the area being cold, it wasn’t noticed.

This year, while working on the system in preparation for the coming winter cold, the flipped switch was discovered, and the water to that area was turned back on. Without a stopper or a connection to the return pipe, the system kept pumping water to the art closet, like trying to fill a cup with no bottom.

The Maintenance and Custodial departments are investigating to make certain that there isn’t a repeat of this incident.