DeKALB — A cold splash of reality brought Neptune East and West residents back from winter break when they were met with ice cold showers the weekend before the spring semester.

Students reported freezing cold shower and sink temperatures as early as Saturday in the Neptune East and West residence halls.

NIU has since released a statement that the issue was fixed.

“The cold caused a temporary issue with a boiler valve and the team responded quickly to have hot water restored by noon (Tuesday),” according to NIU’s statement.

Dan Pedersen, executive director for Housing and Residential Services, addressed the issue in an email.

“Our heat plant staff and plumbers have been working on the issue since last evening (Monday),” Pedersen said. “I have not been provided an update yet, but we are hopeful that the technicians will have this resolved quickly.”

No reports of heating issues came from Neptune North.

In the meantime, Neptune East and West residents were not happy skipping showers on their first day back.

“It makes me feel disgusting honestly,” said Azzy Fee, a first-year dance performance major.

Others said the “freezing” cold water temperatures have affected not only their shower routine but other bathroom schedules.

“We like to take showers at the end of the day to, like, relax, kind of get some stress off and, like, with the extremely cold water it just adds more than we can really do,” said Christian Barraza, a first-year computer science major.

With the warm water returned, Neptune residents should expect a cleaner start to the school year.