The standard dormitory bathroom in the University Student Center. The third floor bathrooms flooded, due to students flushing improper products such as tampons and condoms down the toilets on floors 4 and 5.
Floods wreaked havoc on third floor USC.
Some third-floor residents in the University Student Center dormitory got an unwelcome surprise during the first week of school.
Sewage-tinted water was coming up and out of the drains in their showers and spreading onto the floors of their rooms.
“There were some that were so bad it came out of the shower onto the floor and then … started coming down the hallway,” said freshman Emmy Oberst.
Dean of Students Jacob Diaz acknowledged the problem, and the university has taken steps to address it. But he pointed the finger of blame at others.
“What we know,” he said, “is that a line was clogged as a result of improper products being introduced into the toilet system.”
The improper products? Tampons and condom wrappers.
Students on floors 4 and 5 were flushing them, creating a blockage that, in turn, flooded the third floor, the university said.
The flooding forced students like Oberst to take precautionary steps every time they left the dorm.
“When we’re not in (the dorm) we get our stuff far from the shower in the corner just in case,” Oberst said.
To address the problem, the university replaced all the toilets on the north wing of the third-floor hallway. It promised to compensate students for damaged property. And it offered rooms in the nearby Hilton St. Petersburg to students who had the most damage.
For now, the problem, which started a year after the dorm opened in 2012, seems to be fixed.
“I still don’t completely understand why they replaced the toilets,” Oberst said. “I mean, (the water) rose, but nothing ever came out of it. It was the shower, but they replaced our toilets.”
The university also battled the same problem throughout the 2014-2015 year and handled it differently.
Sophomore Alexandria “Ali” Howerton lived on the third floor of the USC last year. While off campus, her roommate called to tell her that the dorm had flooded with pungent, yellow water.
“I saw the pictures on Facebook, of everybody coming out into the hall because they couldn’t stand the smell of their rooms,” Howerton said. “They literally had to sleep out in the common area all night.”
The university tried to fix the plumbing, she said, but students never saw an end in the north-wing dorm rooms. Instead, they stayed on their toes waiting for tip-offs from the toilets.
“We figured out after a while that when the toilets started bubbling, (the flood) was going to be coming within the next few days.”
The residents moved to the opposite side of the hallway in the following semester, Howerton said, since the school failed to fix the overflow problems during winter break.
Howerton and other students expected the university to compensate them for their damaged property after dealing with the issue for so long, but the school responded by reminding the students of the housing contract.
According to the contract, “USFSP is not liable for damage to or loss of personal property.”
The university blamed the same “improper products” and student negligence for the floods and closed the case after residents moved out of the dorms that had plumbing issues.
Howerton recalled discussing the floods with the third floor resident assistant, and was told students had experienced the same dilemma the year before.
