Water leak discovered in men’s bathroom in DuSable Hall; cause still uncertain

By Tom Bukowski

A water leak occurred in the men’s bathroom on the second floor of DuSable Hall Monday.

The leak flooded parts of the bathroom and inundated a small section of the hallway near the bathroom entrance.

Junior geology major Martin Messmer, a student janitor for DuSable Hall, said he discovered a small surge of water erupting out of one of the faucet handles in the bathroom’s sink at 1:45 p.m.

The pressure was low, he said, and the upsurge was only about a foot tall.

Messmer and building services worker Allison Skinner immediately contacted the NIU Physical Plant to have a worker come in and analyze the situation. A sump pump was used to drain the water from the leak.

Accident, foul play possible

The Physical Plant worker, who did not wish to have his name printed, arrived about 2:40 p.m. to analyze the leak and try and figure out what caused it. His initial guess was foul play because of the proximity of the water to the faucet sink and the discovery of a paper towel blocking the sink’s drain. Upon discovering a loose bolt in one of the faucet handles, his opinion changed to include the possibility of an accident.

This doesn’t happen very often, he said.

Messmer said he thinks someone may have accidently pushed down on the faucet handles, which are oversized handicap handles, and this may have caused the handle to fall off.

The physical plant worker tightened the bolt on the handle and said he hopes that fixed the problem.