Sewage and drainage issues that have plagued a playground area at Scheidler Apartments have been dealt with or are being taken care of, Ball State University officials said.
The apartments had an issue with a backed-up sewage facility several weeks ago, Sally Freistat, assistant director of university apartments, said.
More recently, Ball State has been looking into why rubber chips are clogging drains, Jim Lowe, director of engineering and operations for Ball State University's Facilities Planning and Management, said.
Freistat said the sewage issue was resolved weeks ago. The recent problem involved rainwater and was not related to the sewage incident, she said.
Lowe said he is sure that the current issue at Scheidler involves rainwater and the flooding does not include sewage.
"There are two separate lines that service Scheidler Apartments," he said.
One line is called a sanitary sewer line which deals with human waste. The second line is called a store sewer line and facilitates the evacuation of rain and runoff water, Lowe said. The line that caused the flooding at Scheidler Apartments is the store sewer line, he said.
Health problems related to sewage or water contaminated by sewage include diarrhea, E. coli and Hepatitis A., according to the Indiana State Department of Health's Web site.
Jim Lowe, director of engineering and operations for Ball State University's Facilities Planning and Management, said the grounds crew received a notice last week about standing rainwater behind unit 420.
The problem may have been caused by a combination of heavy rain and rubber chips used on the playground, Lowe said.
"The chips could have gotten into the catch basin and plugged or clogged the pipe," he said.
Catch basin is a broad term used to reference areas at low elevations that catch accumulating rainwater, he said. A pipe leads off of the catch basin and carries the water to a different location, he said.
"Every drop of water that falls on Muncie or in Delaware County goes into the White River eventually," Lowe said.
Lowe said if the chips are the problem, a screen can be placed over the pipe to prevent the chips from entering and clogging it.
"This is the first time I've heard about water backing up at that location," Lowe said.
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