Wren Haynes | Echo
When the going gets tough, the social media gets melodramatic. At least, that seems to be Taylor's ongoing tradition when it comes to power outages, TUCAN glitches, the 2014 Snowpocalypse-and, last but not least, the Drought of 2015.After a water main broke in Upland last Thursday, campus exploded with bright pink papers warning students not to drink from the fountains. Areas south of Reade Avenue were cleared from the boil advisory by Sept. 11, but Wolgemuth, Campbell and Swallow Robin were on watch until four days later.
Seniors Carissa Veltkamp and Katie Marvel-off-campus and commuting students sharing a house-first noticed the leak biking home from class. Water ran down the pavement and workers were busy a few streets over, but Veltkamp didn't find out the specifics until she got home.
"I was walking through the house and Katie's dad walks in and goes, 'Oh, by the way, all of Indiana ran out of water,'" Veltkamp said.
She didn't take him seriously. "Then her mom is like, 'We got you four gallons.'"
They received news of the boil advisory through email soon after.
While Veltkamp and Marvel dealt with the problem by stocking up on distilled water, others set pots to simmering in their dorms. Until the advisory was lifted, Gerig set up a boiled water dispenser at their front desk and Swallow Robin kept legions of tea kettles and water bottles everywhere.
"We had lots of 24-packs of water," said Tori Newman, a Swallow freshman. "I think I've still got about five bottles on my desk."
Although drinking water was taken care of, running laundry and doing dishes turned out to be a real struggle for those under the advisory until Tuesday.
"I think I was dealing with it okay until maybe the third day, when we had a bunch of dishes," said senior Rebekah Stargel, a resident of Wolgemuth. "We made food on Monday night . . . and we had two kettles going at the same time boiling water."
Showering also proved to be a problem, depending on how safe each person deemed the tap water to be.
"I was super paranoid about getting it in my mouth," said Marvel. "I was kind of wondering . . . if I swallowed a small bit of this, would it really kill me? Because I've swum in disgusting lakes before and been fine."
Those who weren't willing to risk it ventured out of their residences. While some people reported hightailing it home, or at least across campus, others headed for one particular academic building.
"I showered in Euler," said junior Kendra Hollenbeck of Swallow Robin. "It was great. Perfect water temperature and no softener."
As for the prank email sent out Sept. 10-responses were mixed. While most people sniffed out the hoax right away, others thought the two responses sent by Taylor administration, sans letterhead and a fancy signature, were less trustworthy than the fake.
"I heard someone say their prof didn't show up," said Marvel.
Mischief aside, the boil advisory was lifted from the rest of Upland Sept. 15. Now the rest of campus can enjoy what some already took for granted-the ability to wash their hands in the sink, worry-free.
