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Pipe burst causes eatery in Student Union to close

Courtesy of undisclosed source

A pipe burst in Croutons on Wednesday, Oct. 1. Brown-colored water was visible in the back room as the spill leaked through the ceiling tiles. After closing twice, Croutons reopened Monday, Oct. 6 once repairs were made.

Colleen Anderson, Staff Reporter

Operations were shut down twice last week at the Student Union salad bar Croutons due to a leaking pipe over the back room behind the kitchen.

Tony Johnson, senior food and beverage director, said water began to leak from the ceiling last Wednesday, Oct. 1, resulting in an early closure. Croutons opened Thursday for operation, but was closed again for all of Friday.

A dining employee, who wished to remain unnamed, said they arrived at Croutons and found the back area covered in dirty-looking water.

“I showed up at 11 a.m. on Wednesday … I went to the back to check my schedule, and the back area where the three-compartment sink and all the coolers are was cordoned off,” the employee said. “I guess there was a spill from the ceiling, all over the back area, and it was a black sludge, kind of, like black water…”

Johnson said the room affected by the leak contained a freezer, a cooler and a three-compartment sink; no food is prepared there. During cleanup, he said the workers were instructed to avoid the area so the water would not drip on them.

The dining employee mentioned that while they were working, it was a significant inconvenience.

The day after the leak, Johnson said he didn’t know which pipe was leaking, but that the problem had been taken care of.

“Honestly, I don’t know where it came from … we had a water leak, we called maintenance, they came over and addressed it, and then we were able to reopen. That’s really all there is to it,” Johnson said Thursday.

In a Friday interview with Johnson, he said the leak came from a soda and ice machine drain-off pipe.

Johnson said the leak stopped Wednesday after maintenance came in but restarted the next day, causing the restaurant to close early.

The student employee confirmed that when they went back in to check on the situation, there was still a bucket full of brown-colored water in the back room Thursday morning.

“My biggest concern was that it [the leak] was so close to the cooler and the freezer that I wasn’t sure how much damage had been caused,” the dining employee said. “… [One] of the reasons that we also cordoned the area off was because there was an issue where it could drip again and you could just get the whatever-it-is on people.”

Johnson said he did not know the exact contents of the water, but he believed the situation was handled safely.

“We really just wanted to make sure, you know, regardless of what it was, that we took every precaution to make sure stuff was clean and sanitized and wiped down and everything afterwards,” Johnson said.

Tim Niederkorn, the environmental specialist dining services contacted about the incident, said he was satisfied with the way the cleanup was handled.

“I was pleased with the reaction and cleanup associated with this event — it was protective of food safety,” Niederkorn said.

Johnson said the leak returned after the reopening of the restaurant, when they reassessed the problem and made the decision to close the restaurant for the second time.

“When the original water leak happened, we thought it was kind of a ‘one and done,’” Johnson said, “but when it came back, we realized that we needed to close the location so that more investigation could be done and repairs could be made.”

While UT maintenance assisted with cleanup, outside cleaning company Serve Pro was brought in on Friday to provide additional help with the cleanup.

Mario Toussaint, senior director of operations for dining, retail and clinical nutrition, said he asked Serve Pro to come in. He said calling in the team was not normal procedure, but he “wasn’t comfortable” with opening the restaurant again without more cleaning.

“I like to do things extremely well, and we just called an outside vendor for thousands of dollars,” he said. “…there was no request for that, but I did it anyhow — that’s just the way I like to do things, just in case.”

Toussaint estimated the cost of the crew to be roughly $2,000.

Croutons reopened for business Monday Oct. 6 after the cleanup was completed. Toussaint said this was done after the area had been cleaned and any boxes affected by the spill were thrown out.

Members of UT’s facilities and construction team were contacted for details, but could not be reached for comment before publication.

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