A water pipe at Campus Recreation Center East (CRCE) collapsed Monday morning, spilling thousands of gallons of water into racquetball courts and the main running track of the new facility.

Robyn Deterding, associate director for Campus Recreation, said a pipe responsible for bringing hot water to the pool collapsed around 11:45 a.m. Monday. The pipe, about eight inches in diameter, collapsed in a second-floor storage room and sent water all over the track and streamed through the ceiling into two of the three racquetball courts.

University officials said the pool would be closed until the pipe can be repaired and engineers can make sure the hot water system is working properly.

The two racquetball courts will also be closed indefinitely until some of the ceiling can be replaced and the floor can be vacuumed and mopped, Deterding said.

The track should also be re-opened once it is dried, she said.

Facilities and Services officials are still investigating what caused the problem, said Frank Schwarz, associate director for project management at the University Facilities and Services.

The way the pipe collapsed had Schwarz and the engineers somewhat bewildered.

“I don’t think even the people who designed the pool have ever seen something like this,” he said.

However, Schwarz said that the nature of the collapse suggests that a vacuum formed in the pipe which caused it to flatten on itself.

“Right now, engineers are trying to make recommendations based on what they think happened,” he said.

The water main was immediately shut down after the collapse, and six large vacuums were brought in to clear up all the excess water, Deterding said.

Hours later, at 3 p.m., buckets and trash cans still were being used to collect the last bits of water dripping from the ceiling to the racquetball courts as contractors tried to clean up everything that was affected by the collapsed pipe.

Gary Miller, associate director for Campus Recreation, said no students were harmed when the pipe collapsed, and the CRCE staff put signs on the front doors of the center and around the inside telling people that the pool, racquetball courts and track were shut down until further notice.

Despite the signs, students were still running on the track Monday afternoon past huge fans set up to dry the rubber track surface.

The piece of pipe that collapsed has been thrown away, and a new piece will replace the old one, Schwarz said.

“(The contractors) are going to make the repairs and run a test,” Miller said. “If it is functioning, they’ll restart the pool, and we’ll see what’s going on.”

In the meantime, the indoor pool at IMPE is open for student use, and the outdoor pool at IMPE will open Thursday. The rest of CRCE, including the one unaffected racquetball court, is also still open.

CRCE opened on March 30 after being closed since 2002. The building still is undergoing minor renovations, but Miller said this incident would not affect their completion.