Question: We’ve been University of Hawaii women’s volleyball and men’s basketball season ticket holders for many years and have seen the condition of the women’s bathrooms at Stan Sheriff Center go from bad to atrocious! Eighty percent of the toilets either leak or constantly run. The floors are always very wet and could cause slipping problems for elderly women. I am embarrassed to take my two granddaughters as it has become increasingly difficult to find a decent toilet to use. I realize the money problems of UH, but they must maintain the sanitation and use of the bathroom facilities. If they get any worse, people will stop renewing their season tickets. Can you please refer this to whoever is in charge of plumbing and sanitation at the Stan Sheriff Center?
Answer: You should be seeing cleaner and safer restrooms, although it may be a while before the main problem — an over-the-hill plumbing system — can be addressed.
“UH-Manoa’s Facilities Management Office was very aware of the problems and has taken steps to resolve them,” Jodi Leong, director of communications for the UH system, told us Friday.
Citing Teri Chang, assistant athletic director for facilities, and mechanical engineer Blake Araki of the Facilities Management Office, she said several issues contributed to the problems:
>> The Stan Sheriff Center’s domestic water booster pump is almost
20 years old and “has exceeded its normal operating life.” The pump began experiencing problems the past month but is now said to be operating “normally.”
>> Problems with the pump, which provides the necessary pressure in the water system to operate toilets, lavatories, urinals, etc., resulted in plumbing backups, wet floors “and the unacceptable condition of the restrooms.”
“We sincerely regret the inconvenience and unpleasantness this has caused,” Leong said.
>> As of Aug. 27 a defective pressure-regulating valve in the booster pump was repaired and adjusted, alleviating some of the problems.
Plumbers also were replacing defective vacuum breakers, diaphragms and bowl wax on restroom fixtures throughout the arena.
>> On Tuesday, facilities management technicians discovered that an electrical breaker on Pump No. 2 was tripped, which caused a backup in some of the restrooms the weekend before. That problem was repaired.
>> Extra cleaning crews were brought in to keep floors dry during high-attendance events, “and that seems to have helped the situation,” Leong said.
Meanwhile, she said the Facilities Management Office is in the early design phase to completely replace the water booster pump and other plumbing equipment throughout the arena.
Until then, however, it “will continue to make temporary, small repairs as best it can,” Leong said. “It will also add extra cleaning crews to maintain sanitation during high-volume events and will continue to keep on-call plumbers and electricians overnight and through the weekend.”
She said the office also is looking into the possibility of having emergency standby crews on site until all necessary repairs are made.
“Again, we apologize to the many UH sports fans and supporters for whom this has been an inconvenience, and ask that they please be patient as we do the best we can until a new system is installed,” Leong said.
Mahalo
To the good Samaritan who found three letters I had inadvertently dropped and mailed them for me. Since they contained sensitive data, I was much relieved to know that they reached the designated institutions. Thank you for your honesty and for being your brother’s keeper. May good fortune be your reward. — Carol Lee, Manoa
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