Water main break leads to big dig at Needles Hall

As work continues to repair a water main break that forced the closure of Needles Hall over the weekend, Director of Maintenance and Utilities Rick Zalagenas says he’s grateful to the dedicated staff members who came together in response to the emergency.

Campus police were the first to notice water spewing from the ground outside the back door of Needles Hall, shortly before 5 a.m. on Saturday. Maintenance workers who responded found water rapidly entering the main mechanical rooms in the building.

With several water mains in the vicinity, Zalagenas says the initial challenge was pinpointing the source of the leak. Before it could be stopped, the mechanical room was more than a metre deep in mud and water, with mechanical and electrical equipment submerged.

With the building’s electrical supply compromised, extra pumps needed to drain the room had to be powered by generators. Electricians began the process of cleaning, drying and testing equipment while a mechanical team continued to deal with water infiltration from the saturated ground and the initial cleanup. A disaster recovery team worked through the night to remove accumulated mud.

Replacement motors for the air supply and return units were delivered Sunday morning, and Zalagenas says a very dedicated crew made up of staff from the mechanical, electrical and central plant worked to the point of exhaustion to dig out the remaining mud from the room, restore the electrical systems components and remove and begin reinstallation of the largest of the motors. Custodial staff began a cleanup of areas affected by the mud Sunday afternoon.

Needles Hall was closed for the day on Monday until most services could be restored, but the building will remain a construction site for some time. Work began Monday to excavate the water services and unearth the source of the leak, which is about 30 feet underground. Teams also continue to work on restoring full electrical services to the mechanical room. The building water system was temporarily fed from an alternate source, and other affected motors and electrical gear not critical to immediate operations were removed for servicing. There will be further shutdowns of building services as staff work to permanently restore these systems to reliable operation.

Between the issues at Needles Hall and a second water main break in the Ron Eydt Village on Saturday, over a dozen Plant Ops people were involved in the emergency repair work, some for more than 14 hours each day.

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The results are in for 2012's Campus Walk

a news release from the Employee Assistance Program

The Employee Assistance Program committee is pleased to announce that the 2012 Campus Walk numbers have been tallied and the results are fantastic! 

The Dubai Campus walked over 25,603 kilometres and the Waterloo campuses walked over 41,492 kilometres for a grand total of 67,095 kilometres – that’s from Waterloo to Dubai 5 times!!!

Top 3 Waterloo Campus teams:

• Catering Crew
• Kwan Wai (Matthew) Wu
• Michael S Carbage
• Roland Lynn
• Robert J Sexton
• Daniel Lemay
• Wilma Balvert
• Simon K Chan
• Marianne Rapp
• Karen Majaury
  
• Oracle Ocean Crossers
• Sean Mason
• Pamela E Fluttert
• Vivienne C Ballantyne
• Angela P Googh
• Adam Wlad
• Stacey J Parsons
• Kevin Scully
• Patricia Coutsos
• Laura Pfanner
• MaryJane Thomas
  
• Renison Red
• Elizabeth Matthews
• Judi Jewinski
• Colleen McMillan
• Kimberly Burrell
• Christa Schuller
• Maggie Heeney
• Andrea Brandt
• Nancy Oczkowski
• Christine Morgan
• Kathleen Hogarth

Top two Waterloo Campus individual winners are:

• Marilyn Malton
• Kwan Wai Wu

Top 3 Dubai Campus teams:

• Spice & Silks
• Srinivas Achar (L)
• Mir Ali
• Jenny Lobo
• Basheer Sadai Abbas
• Amod Chandra
  
• DMC Queens
• Gomathy Krishnan
• Juliet Thanikkal
• Maybel Nithy (L)
• Mercy Pazhamalil
• Wahida Dastakeer
  
• Globetrotters
• June Tupua
• Maureen Nelson
• Nora Ni Neachtain
• Peter Milner
• Steve Raynor

Top Dubai individual winner:

• Firoz Kahn

The EAP committee will be distributing prizes shortly. The committee would like to thank Food Services, Housing & Residences, the Office of Alumni Affairs, Health Services, and the Centre for Career Action for their generous donations.

Now that the campus walk challenge is complete, we ask that you continue this healthy choice of walking and explore the campus community.  While you are exploring, you may notice new benches that have been set up in 18 spots across campus. These benches have been placed on campus by the Employee Assistance Program and are funded by a grant by Special Initiatives Fund (SIF). These benches are there for you, our campus community, for places to relax, meet, reflect, and enjoy.

Thanks for your participation!

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Website offers copyright updates

Copyright Advisory Committee

In the midst of significant change related to copyright in Canada, the University of Waterloo’s Copyright Advisory Committee has updated the university’s main copyright website, http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/copyright/index.html.

There have been significant and positive changes related to copyright in recent weeks.

• As noted in the Daily Bulletin, the University has decided not to sign the copyright license negotiated by Access Copyright and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.
• Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, passed third reading at the Senate and has received royal assent.
• The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released on July 12, 2012 decisions in five appeals on copyright cases.
• Bill C-11 and the SCC decisions expand the scope of fair dealing in ways that will be advantageous to the campus community.

The Provost has established a Copyright Advisory Committee to provide advice on the impact of the above and other copyright-related matters. The committee includes representatives of major departments involved in copyright issues and key campus stakeholders, including the FEDS, GSA, FAUW, UWSA, and FUAC:

University Librarian, Chair – Mark Haslett
Associate University Librarian – Susan Routliffe
Associate University Secretary – Rebecca Wickens
Director CEL – Cathy Newell Kelly
Senior Instructional Developer, Blended Learning, CTE – Jane Holbrook
Director ITMS (IST) – Andrea Chappell
Director Retail Services – May Yan
FAUW, past President - George Freeman
UWSA, President – Trevor Grove
Federation of Students, VP Education – Adam Garcia
GSA, VP Student Affairs - Robbie Henderson
FUAC, Vice-President and Academic Dean, SJU – Jim Frank

The Copyright Advisory Committee will identify ways in which Bill C-11 and the SCC decisions change the copyright environment on campus. When those changes are better understood, several documents on the campus Copyright web page, notably the Copyright FAQ, Fair Dealing Advisory, and Guide for Those Teaching Courses, will be revised. We hope to have those revisions in place for the beginning of the fall term.

In the meantime, if you have questions, please feel free to contact Mark Haslett, Susan Routliffe or Rebecca Wickens.

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Video shows evolution of the main campus

with material from the News @ Your Library newsletter.

Staff at the library's Geospatial Centre have created a video that illustrates the growth of buildings inside the Ring Road over the years.

The video begins with a historical air photo timeline illustrating the growth of the campus within Ring Road. It then displays the 2D building footprints within Ring Road highlighting and listing the building codes with their associated years of construction, from the Grad House created in 1925 to the Quantum Nano Centre set to open in Fall 2012.

The video ends with a 3D rendering of the buildings and with a 3D model of the Dana Porter Library created by using Google Earth with Google Sketch-Up.

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There's still time to have your say on myHRinfo

Human Resources is still looking for feedback from myHRinfo users, but the window of opportunity closes Tuesday, July 31.

There are two options for you to share feedback:

• Book a one-hour presentation on what myHRinfo can do for you, experience new functionality and provide input about future enhancements. Contact Stacey Parsons (sjparson@ uwaterloo.ca) or Pam Fluttert (fluttert @uwaterloo.ca) now to book a presentation.
  
• Take part in a quick and easy online survey. The survey is open to all users of myHRinfo (employees, managers, students).
  

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