Camden Water Emergency Throws Rutgers Into Turmoil
By David Madden
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- Camden's advisory to boil tap water for consumption by residents west of the Cooper River remains in effect, along with a ban on non-essential water use, despite improvements in water pressure levels after Thursday's dangerous drop (see related story).
Police were extra vigilant to make sure fire hydrants weren't opened by people trying to cool off which, in part, led to the precipitous drop in pressure.
Things got so bad that residents on the top three floors of the Rutgers-Camden dorm complex couldn't flush toilets.
When the air conditioning went out, 200 students were moved out by director of housing and residence life Brandon Chandler.
"The Crowne Plaza over in Cherry Hill, we worked with them before. I was able to call our contact and we had 125 rooms within 15 or 20 minutes that we could go to. A second call to the Holiday Inn and they provided us with an additional 16 or 17 to house more people there," Chandler said.
By mid morning Friday, water pressure and air conditioning were back.
The incident ended up costing the school about $10,000.
