By Esti DeAngelis, Opinions Editor
What started as emergency work on the steam pipes that lead into Stern College for Women’s (SCW) Brookdale Hall turned into a much bigger problem on March 26, when a water main leak caused the largest dorm building for Beren campus students to be without water for around 16 hours.
Con Edison, which heats Brookdale’s water via steam pipes, told Yeshiva University on the afternoon of March 26 that they would need to implement an “emergency shutdown” of the steam pipes, YU Chief Facilities and Administrative Officer Randy Apfelbaum told the YU Observer.
Apfelbaum added that Con Edison did not give YU any explanation as to the nature of the issue.
Brookdale residents were first informed of the impending temporary loss of hot water in an email sent by Beren Residence Life at 1:29 PM. “Please be aware that from 10pm on Wednesday March 26 until 10am on Thursday, March 27, the hot water will be turned off in Brookdale,” the email said. “This is due to Con Edison doing maintenance on 34th Street and turning off the steam that gives us access to hot water.”
It wasn’t until later that night that YU was informed of the leak in the water main. “We were alerted that there is a water main leak which required shutting off the main water pipe leading into Brookdale,” Apfelbaum told the YU Observer. “This shut off all the water including the cold water.”
Students were updated in a second email from Beren Residence Life sent at 7:07 PM. The email said that Con Edison had informed the Brookdale front desk that due to “an unexpected and sudden change with the maintenance work,” all water in buildings on 34th Street between Madison and Park Avenues would be shut off.
The email said this move was Con Edison “taking safety precautions” but did not state that there had been a water main leak. Apfelbaum told the YU Observer that while steam is controlled by Con Edison, water is managed by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). He said that it was “not clear if the water main break resulted from the Con Edison work or if it was an unfortunate coincidence.”
“Either way the students were regrettably impacted by this series of events,” he added.
The email informing Brookdale residents of this unexpected update said that although Con Edison did not at the time have an idea as to when water would be restored, they “hope to resolve this ASAP.” YU estimated the issue would take “up to a few hours” to resolve, the email said.
Following this email, all further communication between YU and Brookdale residents took place via statements sent by Resident Advisors (RAs) and Graduate Advisors (GAs) on Brookdale WhatsApp chats. These RAs and GAs had been informed of the water shutoff just minutes before the rest of the Brookdale residents, Brookdale RA Shalva Englander (SCW ‘25) told the YU Observer. “It really was just such a last minute occurrence.”
These updates continued throughout the night and into the next morning. Initially, Brookdale residents were told the water could be back on by midnight. This turned into 3:00 AM, an estimate that was pushed once again in the early morning hours of March 27. Late the night before, a text informed students that YU was “advocating for our building to be the highest priority once any water can be restored,” adding, “Thankfully they have understood the imperative to put Brookdale at the front of the list and expedite our pipes first.”
On the morning of March 27, students were informed that YU had “worked through contacts” to bring the NYC Department of Emergency Management (NYCEM) to the site. The text said that YU was encountering difficulties bringing in alternate water sources but were trying to bring water from other YU buildings, in private bulk orders and through emergency water trucks. Water soon arrived via water bottles and a DEP emergency water truck.
By 8:30 AM, the DEP had identified the source of the leak and hoped to fix the problem in no more than four hours.
An hour later, the DEP stated on X that “crews have worked through the night on East 34th Street in Manhattan to reach a leaking water main which is buried under several other utility lines,” adding, “This is delicate work – which sometimes requires digging by hand.”
In light of texts sent to Brookdale residents stating that YU had only that morning been able to make contact with the DEP, it is unclear if the DEP meant that a Con Edison crew had worked through the night or that their own crew had. It is also unclear the nature of the work Con Edison performed overnight, as it is not Con Edison but the DEP that controls the water pipes.
Neither Con Edison nor the DEP responded to the YU Obsever’s requests for comment.
At 11:14 AM, 16 hours after the water had gone off, Brookdale residents received the final update. “Water is finally back on in Brookdale Hall!” the text stated. At this point, both water and steam pipes were restored, Apfelbaum told the YU Observer. Apfelbaum said that the YU Facilities Department inspected the building for any faucets which may have been left open during the water shutoff and “flushed out any brown water which often comes after water is turned back on.”
Apfelbaum added that all issues appeared to be resolved.
“It is remarkable that everybody remained so cooperative and understanding during this difficult time, you deserve much credit,” Brookdale residents were told via text. “If you notice any irregularities at any point, please notify a Facilities worker or the security front desk ASAP.”
With the water off for an entire night, some Brookdale residents faced unique challenges after coming back late from extracurricular activities to no water. Notably, YUPAC’s annual lobbying mission to Washington, D.C. was on March 26, and participating students returned to their dorms close to midnight without the ability to take a shower.
“We’re all feeling kind of gross and disgusting from the day, and all I wanted to do was just get back and shower,” Leah Reichlin (SCW ‘26) told the YU Observer. Reichlin said that when she returned to her room and realized the water was still off, she decided to take the 30-minute train ride to her house to shower there, despite estimates at that point in the night that the water would turn back on soon. “For some reason, I had this feeling that it wasn’t going to turn back on,” she said. “And thank G-d I went home.”
YUPAC Beren Campus President Shoshana Fisher (SCW ‘26) told the YU Observer that she appreciated the consistent updates from YU throughout the incident. “While it was frustrating to return close to midnight to a dorm without running water, I am grateful to YU and the Beren Resident Life team for their continuous updates and efforts to find solutions,” she said. “What was clearly a massive inconvenience for all residents, the returnees from the YUPAC mission to Washington faced the added frustration of coming into the experience from an 18-hour trip.”
Fisher told the YU Observer that she and others she has spoken with understand that the water outage was not the fault of YU and that they “appreciate all of their efforts to solve the outage as quickly as possible, and in the meantime mitigate its impact by bringing in alternative water sources.”
“People were upset, of course, but no one was angry about it, and that’s usually a good sign,” Englander told the YU Observer of how Brookdale residents handled the situation. “I was expecting a lot more panic than people were actually showing.”
Photo Caption: Brookdale Residence Hall
Photo Credit: The YU Observer