By Reed Schroeder
Residence Life would like the students of Edgewood College to stop urinating in the sinks in their dorm rooms.
In a recent email, Residence Life asked the residents of West Regina Hall to stop peeing in their sinks because it damages the pipes by clogging them with calcium.
The email from Residence Life said, “The plumbing in West Regina Hall is older, and the sinks have low flow aerators which are not sufficient to flush down the urine.”
Connor Haarklau, Residence Life area director, said, “There are communal bathrooms. It’s not much of a walk.”
Residence Life checks in with resident assistants on a weekly basis, but if this problem persists, more drastic action can be taken.
Residence Life also conducts health and safety inspections during December break and will notice if students have been violating health codes by peeing in their sinks.
“If people are doing it continuously still, and we aren’t smelling it in the hallways, we’ll smell it in their room,” Connor said.
Since there was already a warning sent, disciplinary action will be taken more seriously because urinating in the dorm room sink is a health code violation.
Depending on the severity of the case, students should expect individual meetings and fines for any damage caused.
Residence Life first became aware of this issue when students reported that the halls smelled of urine.
The source of the smell became clear a few weeks later when a resident assistant overheard two students talking about peeing in the sinks.
Residence Life then confirmed with the school’s plumber, Martin Gundlach, that this was the source of the smell. The plumber said the sinks were not made to handle urine.
Gundlach also said it would be apparent who had been urinating in their sink.
Some of the students who urinate in their sink say that they are confident that they are causing no damage because they leave the faucet running “to prevent build up.”
Additionally, students cite the ease of access and time of day as a possible motivator.
Most students who urinate in their sinks seem to do so at night.
Some students who urinated in their sinks said they eventually realized it would be easier to go to the bathroom instead.
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