Sofia Rositani – Editor-in-Chief
A video and petition were created by university students due to issues regarding the water in Schwartz Hall.
The video posted by @jonandjanionair goes into detail about how the water has been coming out brown, burning students and finding rust in it. This led to him talking about the petition, which has 125 signatures.
“It came up, actually previously Wednesday at the Residence Hall Association meeting, and Marvin Wilson, who’s our social director at residence life, reached out to facilities to talk to the residence hall director here about the issue,” Director of Residence Life Robert DeMezzo said. “We discovered that New Haven indicated that because the fire that occurred down the street, an apartment built complex, they had a large-armed fire when that much water goes through the water main, it could stir off.”
Associate Vice President for Capital Budgeting & Facilities Operations, Eric Lessne said that the university sent out tests with the Regional Water Authority and a private contractor to test the water in certain rooms that have been having many problems with this issue.
“I believe this week we asked them to test the water here at Schwartz Hall and they did. We also asked for that water to go to an independent lab to be tested as well,” DeMezzo said. “So, we tested it here at the water main, and we did go up to the third floor because that’s kind of where the complaints came from, and tested water in a few rooms. They told me that they received preliminary results that said the water was safe.”
DeMezzo said that the water is cleaned every week by the Regional Water Authority and because of this it may cause some discoloration to the water.
“Out of caution, we ask facilities to get the water tested,” Demezzo said. “They actually test the water in the water main every week, the regional what already does it, which is the New Haven water company.”
While students who live in the dorm have noticed discoloration, others have not.
“My roommate and I have not had any issues regarding the water issue,” early childhood education major, Kylee Gustafson, a sophomore said.
She has seen the video regarding this issue.
“I think the university is doing a good job by keeping the dorm safe for students by doing many tests on the water,” she said.
Some students have not noticed any changes to the water.
“I haven’t been affected by the water,” healthcare studies, Quiniesha McQueen, a sophomore said.
@jonandjanionair declined to comment on the video they created.
The students who created the petition could not be reached for comment.
