Lausanne residents found themselves without hot water a week after their return to campus due to initial difficulties with Lausanne and Doney’s new boiler system.
Some Willamette University sophomores are no strangers to water issues in student dorms. In the fall of the 2023-24 school year, the Matthews complex lost hot water due to its own water boiler problems. The university has spent the past year addressing issues regarding the water systems, as Director of Residence Life and Housing Aaron Hukari outlined in an email interview, “The Doney [and] Lausanne water boiler project is a continuation of the boiler decentralization project that was started in 2023.” This included the Baxter and Matthews replacement last year and the replacement of water systems with localized water boilers this summer in Lausanne.
By Aug. 1, facilities and contractors aimed to restore hot water to the building for students moving in early. According to Hukari, since the building was built to house 155 students, Lausanne’s water was inconsistent and cold from Aug. 1-23 due to low occupancy. “When the buildings have low occupancy, it's difficult for hot water to cycle through the building fast enough to remain hot,” Hukari explained in the email statement. “There just isn't enough demand for the hot water so the water will cool in the pipe before getting to an open faucet or shower.”
Annabelle Pastori (‘27), a third-floor Lausanne resident, first noticed the issue after moving in on Aug. 16. “At that point, the water pressure and water temperature was all out of whack,” Pastori noted. Prior to the regular move-in date there was inconsistent water pressure, causing water to spray from showers, sinks and even water fountains, according to Pastori. However, these initial water problems were fixed by returning students on move-in day.
“It was a little inconvenient but I wasn’t really that affected,” Pastori recalled. “[Housing] was really rushing to fix it because they understood that a lot of the sophomores experienced the water shut-offs in Baxter last year so they didn’t want them to have a second round of it.”
Between Aug. 25-28, a spike in hot water concerns urged Facilities to find a solution, causing housing to send out an email on Aug. 28 requesting students who experienced hot water issues to email housing with any information they could provide. With overwhelming responses from Lausanne residents, housing sent another email on Aug. 30 communicating that all Lausanne residents would be given access to Doney Hall for hot water needs.
Doney residents were impacted too, as Allison Cordova (‘27) shared. “We were given a heads-up that Lausanne residents would be using our bathrooms,” Cordova said. “I live on the third floor, so not many people would go upstairs to shower. I think people used first-floor bathrooms more than any other floor.”
Residents received an email on Sept. 5 from housing notifying residents that a water outage would be planned from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 6 to allow for boiler maintenance.
Lausanne resident Abigail Kirkbride (‘27) provided insight on her experience, saying, “We did have hot water. The issue is that it would take forever to come on, and it would only last for about four minutes.”
With the overall temperature of campus ranging from 80-90 F at that point, cold showers were occasionally enjoyable. However, the issues lay elsewhere for many other residents. “I don't mind the water being cold. In all honesty, it's more frustration with regards of how my money and the money of other students is being allocated,” Kirkbride stated. “The school is fully capable of testing and fixing amenities over the summer when there is no one living in the halls. It's more convenient for both parties to do things over the summer.”
Hukari stated that “hot water concerns plummeted around Sept. 3. As of Sept. 4, we have not had any further responses to our request from students to let us know about any issues with the hot water in Lausanne.”
While no other large projects are anticipated for residential spaces during the school year, Hukari noted that maintenance and facility issues may come up at any time and urged students to file a Housing Maintenance Report if any concerns arise.
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