- April 26, 2024
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Matanzas High School has some problems with its plumbing — specifically in the male restrooms.
The waterless urinals installed when the school was built, a little more than a decade ago, were installed incorrectly and connected to copper pipes. The pipes are disintegrating from contact with the acidic urine. PVC piping is used for traditional flush installation.
Despite the potty problems, day-to-day operations have not been affected.
“It’s a slight inconvenience said Mike Metz, team supervisor for Matanzas, Indian Trails Middle School and Belle Terre Elementary. “Only one of the boys’ bathrooms is shut down completely.”
The leak was found as the search began to find the source of a smell.
“After we located the problem we went around to all of the other bathrooms,” Metz said. “We wanted to be proactive.”
Metz said there are 16 urinals being replaced with traditional flush models at the high school.
The bathroom that is closed has wall damage and extra cleaning will need to be done before it can be reopened.
“If everything goes well, it should be two to three weeks’ timeline of actual work,” Metz said. “We have to get all of our bids in place. If we can get that taken care of by the end of this month I don’t see why they won’t be back in operation by Thanksgiving.”
Chuck Nies, Director of Plant Services, agreed.
“All we are replacing are a few feet of pipe.”
The estimated cost for the repairs is about $20,000.
Two other schools in the district have waterless urinals — Rymfire Elementary and the section that joins Buddy Taylor Middle School and Wadsworth Elementary.
“This is the biggest facility we have. The others only have them in the gang bathrooms,” Metz said. “We haven’t had an issue there, but they will definitely be looked at.”
