16 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Chronicle</strong> February 26 - March <strong>18</strong>, 20<strong>19</strong> chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Campus
Campus chronicle.durhamcollege.ca February 26 - March <strong>18</strong>, 20<strong>19</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Chronicle</strong>17 Photograph by Rachelle Baird <strong>The</strong> piping to service the campus stretches for kilometres. <strong>The</strong> red pipe is for the sprinkler system. Ensuring there's a good flow on campus Rachelle Baird <strong>The</strong> <strong>Chronicle</strong> 24 HOURS DC UOIT While students are busy learning and professors teaching, the maintenance department is hard at work taking care of the university and college campuses. <strong>The</strong> maintenance department is made up of 21 workers. <strong>The</strong>re are three plumbers, three HVAC technicians, three electricians, two BAS technicians, two locksmiths, two carpenters, two trade helpers and four general maintenance workers. Rey <strong>The</strong>ophille is a plumber who has been employed at DC and UOIT for 14 years. He says not only does the staff take care of the Oshawa campuses, they also maintain Whitby, the Pickering Learning Centre and other areas. "We also do the satellite campus, Uxbridge and Bowmanville. So we give them some support as well," <strong>The</strong>ophille says. According to <strong>The</strong>ophille, maintenance of the university takes up most of their time. "It's funny, the university is a newer building. So you think it would require less maintenance," he says. <strong>The</strong>re have been a few issues with flooding, such as two eroded fire hydrants which exploded and caused flooding in the roadway, a frozen sprinkler in the UA building, and a few floods during renovations, according to <strong>The</strong>ophille. As for how much piping, there are kilometres serving the campuses. <strong>The</strong>ophille says plumbing problems have been caused by items left in toilets that shouldn't be found there. "We have removed pop cans, cellphones and jewellery from the toilets," he says. <strong>The</strong>y even found half a chicken in the toilet once, says <strong>The</strong>ophille. And one semester some time ago, someone frequently defecated on the floor of the now-demolished Simcoe building, he says. <strong>The</strong> plumbing department maintains the backflow system which ensures no contaminated water gets into the drinking water. <strong>The</strong> plumbing department also helps flush out the HVAC system, which maintains temperatures of the buildings. <strong>The</strong>ophille says there have not been many problems with heat, but at one time there were issues in keeping the buildings cool but they have since replaced the air conditioning system. <strong>The</strong>ophille says the staff are busy all year long. Work shifts start as early as 8 a.m. and finish at 10 p.m. as that is when most classes end. Photograph by Rachelle Baird Backflow systems prevent bad water from entering good water. Photograph by Rachelle Baird Durham College and UOIT's lead plumber Rey <strong>The</strong>ophille working in his office below the UOIT Science Building.