Administration was forced to react quickly to an underground water leak Thursday, Jan. 26.

After a report of water bubbling up from school pavement, school officials took a series of proactive health and safety measures on campus — telling teachers to relocate their parked cars and later canceling activities taking place after school. The water main pipe was completely repaired Friday, with no lasting effects on the school’s operation.

During the process of investigation, concerns over the pipe damage included the possibility of a sinkhole developing, or the need to close school due to major fixes.

“We checked our [water pressure] and we found out that we were losing … a lot of water pressure. So therefore we could kind of calculate how much water we were losing over time. And that gave us an indication that although it was highly unlikely, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that a sinkhole could develop,” Principal Kevin Buchanan said. “If water mains break, and the ground gets saturated underneath, then sinkholes occasionally can develop.”

According to social studies teacher Russell Peters, the possibility of a sinkhole was ruled out fairly quickly.

“Once the district was contacted, they responded very quickly, and because of that they started testing as to what the problem was and where the problem was,” Peters said. “They were very vigilant — the administrators — and the plumbers and the people who were working.”

Peters originally identified the leak as he walked toward his classroom Thursday morning.

“I noticed that [water] was bubbling up … in the place where the water was not originating from,” Peters said.

With the advice of a worker from the school’s water company, Peters proceeded to notify both the district office and school administration.

Unsure of the leak’s implications, Buchanan visited several classrooms to warn teachers whose cars were parked near the leak.

“So the first thing was to make sure that [for] anybody who might be in the area we got them — we got their cars safely away from the area. So that was kind of our first thing: let’s get everybody out of the area until we can figure out what it is that’s going on,” Buchanan said.

By the lunch period, small crowds of students gathered by the R building to see the “sinkhole.” While there was no hole in sight, a small spout of water was could be seen shooting from the asphalt.

Orange-clad workers slowly filtered in. By the beginning of fifth period, one was drilling into the ground by the leak. By the end of the period, the sound of a jackhammer could be heard ringing through the school.

“How we even get a diagnosis of the problem often impacts how we respond. Because we really couldn’t even find out about what was wrong with this issue until we could dig a hole. We couldn’t necessarily turn the water off,” Buchanan said.

According to Assistant Principal Jason Meskis, the school does not have fine-grained shutoff valves for the school’s water lines. Shutting off the water mains would affect the entire school.

“And then we started to have lots of conversations about what if. Okay, what if we have to turn the water off? What if it is a major water main break? How long is it for something like that to take care [of it]? If we have to spend all day on Friday — today — repairing it, what do we do then? … We tried to do an impact study on what that might look like,” Buchanan said.

The immediate impact: The school’s water needed to be disabled after the end of seventh period. This, Buchanan said, posed a challenge for after-school activities.

“We’re required by law to have a certain number of bathrooms per number of students. It’s a sanitary issue, as well as a legal issue, as well as a compliance issue,” Buchanan said. “If we do not have bathrooms, it would be irresponsible of us to invite hundreds of people onto campus to have things. We rented port-a-potties yesterday, for an event we had in the Pavilion last night.”

While the Pavilion event continued on, sports practices were relocated and other events cancelled. For example, the school’s basketball team practiced at Medea Creek Middle School, while the Mock Trial team’s class was called off.

“What are you going to do? You’ve got 50 kids here, 100 kids, another 30 or 40 adults — working out, drinking water and doing activities,” Buchanan said. “Where are they going to go? They gotta go. So they had nowhere to go — they couldn’t flush.”

According to Buchanan, the school has seen two similar issues in its past: a gas leak and a main water leak. As such, there is a procedure in place to deal with these situations.

“The first thing [is] to make sure all the people who are in positions of responsibility understand what the situation is,” Buchanan said. “My responsibilities are the school site, the students, the teachers. The district’s responsibility is to hire the contractors to come out and take a look at the problem, whatever it is … And we communicate a lot about not only the diagnosis, but what the cure would be and what would be the impact on the school — the school day, the students, the teachers, the everything — in all kind of eventualities.”

And the next eventuality would approach soon: On Saturday, Jan. 28, a parent stumbled upon a broken irrigation pipe by the Great Lawn — it’s currently under construction.