Facilities Management director on flood recovery: "Most of the bigger challenges lie ahead"

Don Guckert, associate vice president and director of Facilities Management. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

The University of Iowa held a ceremonial ribbon cutting on Monday, Aug. 25, to celebrate the reopening of five critical campus buildings—Main Library, which opened weeks ago; and Becker Communications Studies Building, Adler Journalism Building, English-Philosophy Building, and Mayflower Residence Hall, which came online within the past week. These buildings were among the 20 closed due to summer flooding.

But this ceremony does not indicate that it's business as usual on the UI campus. In the words of Don Guckert, associate vice president and director of Facilities Management, “Most of the bigger challenges lie ahead.”

For instance, the University is relying on temporary boilers to take the place of the UI Power Plant. Work continues to bring the Iowa Memorial Union back online. And much of the arts campus is facing an entire year of recovery efforts. Add to this the long-term mitigation decisions that must be made to help prevent this sort of damage from recurring, and one sees a long road indeed—but one that seems navigable, if this summer’s recovery work is any indication of the dedication many people have for the UI campus.

Guckert sat down with fyi to discuss short-term priorities in flood recovery, possibilities for long-term flood mitigation, and the amazing moments he witnessed as the campus rushed to protect its buildings and property as the Iowa River continued to rise.

The work done on campus to bring buildings back online is nothing short of amazing, but has that distorted people’s perception of flood recovery?

Despite outward appearances, we are nowhere near normal operations here. Most of the hard work lies ahead. We feel good about our accomplishments so far, but we face a long road. We could be talking in terms of years before full recovery.

One of the things about getting certain buildings back online so quickly is that we’ve set expectations that all buildings will come back easily. Believe me, it’s not as easy as it may appear. The University brought Mayflower back in time for the fall semester, but that required a heroic effort. Recovery will continue as aggressively as possible, we’ll get as many buildings back up and running as soon as we can, and we’ll turn our attention to making some thoughtful, long-term decisions.

With the fall semester starting, what can be said to faculty, staff, and students—and their parents—to ease fears about the safety of the flooded buildings?

One thing I can say with absolute certainty: the buildings that we’ve brought back online are now cleaner than ever. These buildings were put through immense scrutiny; the recovery process was top-shelf. Ductwork was thoroughly cleaned. Damaged building materials were ripped out and disposed or scrubbed clean. Tests for mold and other contaminants have been conducted repeatedly, both by the contractors and UI Environmental Health & Safety. We are confident that there is no health risk.

What are the immediate concerns with regard to flood recovery?

Many people, especially those displaced, are interested and concerned about individual buildings. I can certainly understand their concerns, but if any particular building fails to get up and running, we’ve already made temporary accommodations for people affected by these closings. Of more concern to me is the UI Power Plant and steam distribution system. Steam is so critical—residence halls, the hospital, and the academic research facilities depend on steam heat. Research, sterilization, food service, building heat, hot water—all these things rely on steam for normal operation.

Temporary boilers currently are taking the place of the Power Plant. We have a boiler on each side of the river and two more by the Power Plant. In some ways, this is like having a used car: other owners have already used these boilers, so we are not sure how well they’ve been cared for and how reliable they would be through the winter. And if they fail at any given time—we do not have the same redundancy in our system that we enjoyed before the flood.

Nov. 1 is our target date for getting the Power Plant back up and having our distribution system rebuilt, as that is when the potential for serious winter weather begins. Failure to get the steam issue resolved could leave the whole campus in jeopardy. This is proving to be challenging. Our design professionals, contractors, and University staff are working very hard on the recovery effort.

Faculty/staff/students in buildings on higher ground might not be immune to the effects from the flood, correct?

At the beginning of the residence halls’ early move-in week [the week of Aug. 18], we did not have full steam to residence halls on the West Campus—buildings certainly on higher ground. This meant that students checking in Monday might not have had hot water. This again highlights the importance of steam to this campus.

During the flood, when we lost the Power Plant and the temporary boilers were not operational, the only place with steam was the hospital. That put a lot of research in jeopardy, impacted our ability to control humidity in buildings, and left the residence and dining halls without hot water. Even though most of the campus was on higher ground, almost all of the buildings experienced interruptions in utility services.

Do you have a timetable for reopening the Iowa Memorial Union or the buildings on the arts campus?

Our goals are to return the Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratories and the Iowa Memorial Union to partial operations as early as this fall, perhaps by October for IATL and early November for the IMU. We are also investigating the viability of the Theatre Building returning to temporary operation by the end of the fall semester. But the majority of the arts campus? We’re looking at a year from now before most of it is back in business.

Will there be barriers to prevent people from entering potentially unsafe areas?

We’re working collaboratively to light what needs to be lit, fence what needs to be fenced, and sign what needs to be signed. We are very focused on providing new and returning students, staff, and faculty with a safe environment. We have a contract for fencing around the arts campus. We want to keep people from entering potentially unsafe areas.

When will long-term mitigation decisions begin?

Next month we hope to be ready to begin structured discussions regarding a process for mitigation. From the Facilities Management perspective, the Power Plant/distribution system remediation remains our top priority. If mitigation measures have to lag as a result, that’s what will have to happen, because we’re still in a very fragile and difficult situation. We will try to strike the right balance between our recovery and mitigation efforts.

What are some ideas for mitigation?

Our approach is crucial. We can’t fall into the trap of thinking that this is the worst possible scenario—many people thought that following the flood of 1993, and we saw that was false. We can’t say for certain what we’re protecting against, so as an institution, we’ll have to come to a high-water design point.

One mitigation strategy that makes sense is to work on isolating the utility tunnel systems from our buildings. Right now, our utility tunnels connect right into some buildings—we know some places flooded from the bottom up through the tunnels. One idea is to seal off a section of tunnel near each building and run pipes through a solid barrier into the building—there’s no clear path for water that way. That seems like a prudent step. But we want to engage experienced flood protection consultants before taking any action.

We are a very complex campus and thus I would expect some very creative approaches to protecting ourselves against future threats. We plan on harnessing the interest, talent, and expertise of a number of individuals on this campus, and we expect to consult broadly with faculty and staff members and with students whenever that’s appropriate. We also want to work collaboratively with Iowa City and Coralville in developing mitigation strategies. In the end, I am confident that we will employ a myriad of solutions that will help us achieve the critical balance of both enjoying and protecting against a river that is the defining physical feature of our university.

Have you heard from people who are skeptical about returning to buildings along the river?

Right after the flood, I heard discussions from folks who asked why we wouldn’t just build new buildings on higher ground, and forget what we have. While the damage we sustained was monumental, it’s but a fraction of what these buildings are worth. To build in new locations would carry a cost that would stagger you. It is many times over what it will cost to put them back in operation and mitigate future flood risks. We’ll need to keep an open mind and consider unique approaches to each building—some buildings may need replacement, others might just need better protection in their current locations.

We’ve heard so many amazing stories from the flood response—are there any that stand out in your mind?

I think the evacuation effort isn’t getting enough credit. We saved a lot of assets, a lot of property. And I must mention the unbelievable response from University staff and their heroic efforts to try to save our campus. Sandbag walls were built, forecasts changed, walls were torn down and new barriers were erected, forecasts changed yet again, and new barriers went up. At every turn we were asked to do things again and on a grander scale, and the collective team rose to the challenge each time.

I believe our response to this disaster can serve as a model for other institutions. We had people from outside the University—consultants, other universities, and even the National Guard—witness our coordinated response effort and each had similar comments related to the remarkable teamwork within the University. It seems natural to us to bring together the varied expertise found on our campus and pursue unselfish common goals; from the outside, however, this level of teamwork looks very special.

by Christopher Clair