Hill's faucets run dry this weekend

and Monica Leas Five hundred Hill House residents lived without drinking water, showers and toilet facilities this past weekend, due to a water main break which was aggravated by recent weather changes. The water was shut off for the entire dormitory from 5 p.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday, Director of Residential Maintenance Lynn Horner said yesterday. "Weather and God caused this break," a University plumber said yesterday. "It is something that the University could not control." Since the break occurred 11 feet below ground in the moat area that surrounds the dorm, it did not affect pedestrian activity, Horner said. She added that the two-foot break was first detected at 8 a.m. Saturday, when water began to seep into the mechanical room in the basement of Hill. Plumbers were immediately called to the scene. University plumbers worked until Saturday at midnight, because the steam rising off the severed pipe became too intense, the plumbers said, adding that the pipe's ditch was also beginning to collapse. Hill House Master Robert Lucid said he and the other Hill House staff did their best to notify students of the problem at hand. He added that this was a particularly unique occurrence. "None of us could remember ever being without water," the English professor said. Hill House had a similar emergency about seven years ago when the building lost all electricity. "If I had to choose between losing power and losing water, I would definitely choose power," Lucid said. "There are things that you can do without power that you just can't do without water." Some Hill House residents complained of the unsanitary conditions. "The situation was difficult because we could not do simple things like showering and washing our faces," College freshman Cindy Samuels explained. "It had to be a health hazard for the students living here." But Lucid did not consider the situation extremely dangerous. "I don't think it lasted long enough to be anything more than kind of repulsive," he said. Lucid added that residents were instructed to use the facilities at both King's Court/English House and the Towne Building. But residents were upset by this directive. "I think everyone in Hill was dirty," College freshman Kasi Hara said. "We couldn't even brush our teeth." Lucid said he thought residents accepted the inconvenience as well as could be expected. "It wouldn't surprise me that anyone would protest the absence of water," he said. Many students did in fact protest the lack of water, some even doing so at 3 a.m. Sunday. A group of fifth-floor residents pounded on the floor screaming "We need shower water" during early morning hours. "We are paying almost a grand per month per room," Engineering freshman Sevile George said. "We deserve water."