The first week of classes was cut short last Wednesday when a city water main located by the Southeast Missouri State University boiler plant suffered a break.

The initial discovery of the break caused classes to be cancelled for the rest of that day and then later turned into the cause for the entire main campus to be closed until Tuesday this week.

According to Kathy Mangels, the vice president for finance and administration, the pipe break was found by university personnel.

"We actually discovered the break. The pipe comes into campus but starts all the way out on Sprigg Street," Mangels said. "So the university personnel actually noticed the water coming up from underground. So our personnel actually found it and alerted the city."

Cape Girardeau city workers responded to the break by putting a patch on the pipe to try to contain the break while repairs took place.

After the repairs were done, the city sent the water to be tested on Friday to be sure that it was safe to return the water system to normal operation.

The cause of the break has been attributed to the age and deterioration of the pipe.

"The pipe was installed, from their estimate, about 1949, so it is an old cast iron pipe. It seemed to be just natural causes. Just the age of the pipe and natural deterioration caused a hole to be busted in the main so they [the city] think it was just age and natural causes," Mangels said.

Mangels also said that the response from the city was swift and helped maintain water flow to residence halls for students who remained on campus.

"We very much appreciated them. They were on site immediately and have a contractor that is responsible for the water system who was there the whole time," Mangels said. "First thing they did was try to work with us, understanding the number of people we have on campus, to try to do some temporary adjustments that would give us some temporary water flow. We appreciated the fact that they understood that we have people living on campus and we needed to do whatever we could to at least give them minimal service. We very much appreciate their quick response and understanding our needs."

Michelle Ward was one of the many students who stayed on campus during the six-day break that students have been referring to as "WaterWeek2k14." She said that she had a few difficulties due to the water break but that the university handled the issue well.

"I had fun and it was a good break from school, but the showers were almost non-existent," Ward said. "I don't mind that I didn't go home. I think they [the university] did good. Everything kind of feels like it's back to normal."

Mangels said that the university will meet with the city soon to talk about future maintenance.

"We are going to be meeting with the city to talk about any other upgrades that they may have in mind just to help ensure that this doesn't happen again," Mangels said. "We have talked to the city manager and the director of public works and the university and we are going to have further discussion with them to find out what are their future plans for upgrading some of these older water mains that might be serving campus."

Mangels attributes the quick response and repair to city workers, university personnel and the Southeast campus community.

"We appreciate the understanding of the campus community, and we had campus personnel who assisted the city to make sure that we had basic services for students who remained on campus," Mangels said. "We appreciate that the campus community pitched in also to make the situation work as best we could."