A water leak in the Halbert-Walling Research Center on Jan. 14 caused less than $5,000 in damages but left the two affected labs shut down for a little less than a week, said Corey Ruff, associate vice president for operations.

“Thanks to the quick response from the building occupants and operations team, there was minimal damage to the facility,” said Ruff.

ACUPD discovered the leak in Halbert-Walling during the morning. A defect in the heating system caused water to drip through the ceiling of Lab 246 and into Lab 146.

Ruff said damages mostly consisted of the defective heating system, ceiling tiles and floor tiles. Microscope equipment and anatomy models held in the labs were not damaged. Dr. Jennifer Huddleston, chair of the Department of Biology, said a technology cart was also damaged and was replaced this week.

“We were very, very fortunate that we did not have more damage,” said Huddleston. “It only really affected one day of labs, which were Thursday labs, and we were able to accommodate that. It’s actually not as bad as it could have been and as it has been in the past.”

Classes were unable to use the labs while the damages were being repaired from Jan. 14-19, but all classes were able to be moved into different rooms.

“Our goal is to never disrupt classes but with 2.3 million square feet of facilities on the ACU campus, sometimes classes are temporarily inconvenienced while an issue is resolved,” Ruff said. “We are blessed to have a very understanding campus community that works together during times like this to continue the mission of ACU.”