Good news, drinking water, cooking food, washing hands and taking a shower are all now safe things to do on the University of Idaho campus, now that the chlorine concentration has returned to a safe level as of 4:30 p.m. last Friday.
A pump failure in the chlorination system prompted the UI Environmental Health and Safety Office to recommend that no one should drink on-campus water, due to elevated chlorine levels.
What was most alarming about this entire situation was not the water in the pipes, but how UI administrators failed to properly communicate with the university community on an issue of public safety.
UI facilities first acknowledged the problem at 1 p.m. on Friday, when they sent out a one-line email to building alert contacts — a group limited to only a few people in each building. The email not only neglected to give any direction on how to prevent people from consuming the water, but more importantly, did not identify the severity of the contamination — leaving many to wonder about the harm it could cause.
There were no other campus-wide alerts or emails sent out to let UI staff, faculty and students know about the situation.
If only there was a system in place that could warn students, faculty and staff in a timely manner about dangerous situations on campus through multiple communication devices. Oh wait, the Vandal Alert system does exist.
UI administrators have sent out Vandal Alert messages for earthquake drills, snow days and a moose on campus. Why was the Vandal Alert system not utilized?
The Argonaut made contact with UI Facilities at 2 p.m. to confirm the contamination was legitimate. At this point, UI Facilities informed The Argonaut they would need to get approval from UI Communications and Marketing before releasing information to the media. Thirty minutes later, Facilities confirmed the elevated chlorine levels, and The Argonaut reported it on its Facebook page.
It should be common sense, but administrators and staff should not have to seek approval from media relations to confirm a public safety hazard. The university has fostered a culture that disregards transparency and openness, with the media relations department at the forefront of muzzling information.
UI administrators should be able to have an open conversation with the media, especially when the topic is public safety.
The contamination was resolved in a timely manner, but it revealed a disturbing lack of communication between UI administration and the general public.
–RT