The seasonably cold weather, or what some meteorologists are calling an "Arctic Freeze," blew through Auburn last week, and had residents bundling up and staying indoors. What many citizens didn't know was they should have been bundling their pipes instead.
With the weather dropping to the low teens last week, residents sought shelter in the warmth of their homes, not realizing the weather could have detrimental effects on their plumbing.
Water Resource Management Director Eric Carson explained the different ways cold weather can affect water and pipes.
"As far as water goes, the pipes themselves will contract, and the joints of the pipes will pull apart and cause leaks," Carson said. "They expand, and they can cause problems, even causing the pipes to move in the ground."
When the pipes freeze and move underground, they make weak points in the entire system of the pipes, causing them to leak or burst, which causes water to spread.
Water freezes and expands. When water is at rest in the pipes, it will begin to freeze. When the water freezes, it splits the pipe because of the expansion.
As far as prevention goes, there a few ways to keep the cold weather from damaging pipes, such as burying pipes deep in the ground when a home is built, insulating exposed pipes with heat tape and keeping water on helps prevent freezing.
Students such as Payden Evans, sophomore in RTVF, and resident of Court Square Apartments, are usually not aware of this problem.
"I had no idea that the cold weather could be a problem with the pipes," Evans said. "I didn't see any notices or receive any emails about leaving my water on in case of the pipes freezing. I'm just glad my apartment wasn't flooded. "
In the apartment complex 221 Armstrong, residents were sent emails, texts and signs were set up in the complex warning students of freezing pipes.
Jayne Ohlman, sophomore in poli-science, resides at 221 said she remembered seeing signs and pamphlets everywhere.
"After all the information they sent out, we still had a pipe burst," Ohlman said. "It definitely put a damper on some of the residents, literally."
Building 2 of 221 suffered a pipe burst, and residents had to vacate their apartments temporarily and have their carpet replaced.
221 warned residents, but other apartment complexes did not address the cold weather threat.
Attempts to reach 221 were unsuccessful.
In the past week, Carson said he estimated he received 15 to 20 calls per day to turn off the water because of damaged or shattered pipes.
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