UW-Madison plans to fix broken AC before students return this fall
About a month ago, a major chilled water line ruptured near the Charter Street Healing and Cooling Plant. The pipe was part of a system that provides air conditioning for much of campus, including academic buildings, research facilities and hospitals.
“The damaged section of pipe has been removed, and work is underway to install a permanent replacement,” Deej Lundgren, the UW system’s associate vice president for capital planning and budget, told the Board of Regents during a virtual meeting Thursday.
UW-Madison continues to calculate the total cost of the repairs and determine what caused the break. The university may seek additional funding from the UW system in the future, Lundgren said. The pipe was 4 feet in diameter and buried 20 feet underground, which made it “very challenging to get at,” he said.
“In partnership with the state of Wisconsin, it was determined that the current Engineering Drive utility project could be used to support the repair efforts,” Lundgren said.
