Photographer

CSU Bakersfield’s new water-wise demonstration garden outside of the Waltern Stiern Library had to be torn apart last week in order to locate an underground water leak.

“It was heartbreaking to have to tear up the brand new landscape, but it could not be helped,” said Director of Facilities Operations Paula Bray.

The leak in the heating hot water line that serves the campus had been identified the week before and the university was in the process of contracting with a leak detection company.

However, the location of the leak was identified by a landscaping employee on the south side of the Walter Stiern Library on Friday, Feb. 5.

The landscaper then contacted the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HAVC) technicians who confirmed that it was heating water that was leaking. It resulted in two valves on either side of the leak to be turned off, leaving the library without heat.

The uprooting of the landscape by Taft Plumbing Crew began on Monday, Feb. 8 and continued into the week.

“The pipe that cracked was located 10 feet below grade-ground level. The area where the leak occurred is on a hillside about 10 feet above grade, so altogether, they had to dig down around 20 feet,” said Bray.

The location of the cracked pipe was found on the second day of digging and was removed and replaced on Tuesday. The hole was filled on Thursday and landscaping crews have commenced the re-landscaping of the water-wise gardens.

“We are working with the landscape contractor who did the original installation to provide us with a proposal to reinstall the landscape to the original specifications,” said Bray. “We removed as many of the recently installed plants as we could and have kept them alive during the repair process to minimize the total cost for the re-installation of the landscape.”

Bray is also working with a campus biologist to monitor the work being done throughout the project to ensure that the Kit Fox Den located in the area stays unharmed during the digging and re-landscaping process.