{
  "id": "2024-09-22-sdsu-water-main-break",
  "slug": "sdsu-water-main-break-2024-09-22",
  "institution": {
    "name": "San Diego State University",
    "shortName": "SDSU",
    "state": "CA",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "SDSU Alert",
    "enrollment": 36000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-09-22",
    "endDate": "2024-09-25",
    "type": "infrastructure-failure",
    "cleryCategory": "advisory",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat",
    "headline": "Water main break shut off water to four buildings and closed a campus road for three days",
    "headlinePublic": "Water main break shut off water to four buildings and closed a campus road for three days",
    "summary": "On September 22, 2024, a water main broke on Aztec Circle Drive between the Facilities Services building and the [Donald P. Shiley BioScience Center](https://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news_story.aspx?sid=78318) at [San Diego State University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_State_University). Water was shut off to four buildings, including the BioScience Center and North and South Art buildings, and a section of Aztec Circle Drive was closed. Water was restored by 6:27 p.m. PDT the same day, but the road closure persisted until September 25.",
    "outcome": "Water was restored to all four affected buildings by 6:27 p.m. on September 22. The section of Aztec Circle Drive that was closed for repairs reopened at 1 p.m. on September 25, 2024. No injuries reported."
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2024-09-22T09:23:00-07:00",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "SDSU Facilities Services is actively addressing a water main break on Aztec Circle Dr., between the Facilities Services building and the Donald P. Shiley BioScience Center. Water is temporarily shut off in the North Art, South Art, Donald P. Shiley BioScience Center and the Facilities Services buildings. Portions of Aztec Circle Dr. are also temporarily closed. Updates to come.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://urgent.sdsu.edu/archives/2024-09-22-water-main-break",
      "sourceDescription": "SDSU Urgent Campus Information archive (official)",
      "annotations": [
        "Corrected to exact official archive wording: 'Water is temporarily shut off' (not 'has been') and trailing 'Updates to come.'",
        "Verified character-for-character against urgent.sdsu.edu archive page body for Sept. 22, 2024 9:23 a.m. entry"
      ],
      "characterCount": 380
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestamp": "2024-09-22T18:27:00-07:00",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "The water main break reported earlier today on Aztec Circle Dr., between the Facilities Services building and the Donald P. Shiley BioScience Center, has been resolved and water has been restored to the four impacted buildings. Please note: Portions of Aztec Circle Dr. remain closed. Updates will be provided once the road closure is lifted.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "annotations": [
        "Exact text from SDSU official urgent.sdsu.edu archive entry for Sept. 22, 2024 6:27 p.m."
      ],
      "characterCount": 342,
      "sourceUrl": "https://urgent.sdsu.edu/archives/2024-09-22-water-main-break",
      "sourceDescription": "SDSU Urgent Campus Information archive (official)"
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "resolution",
      "timestamp": "2024-09-25T11:59:00-07:00",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "The portion of Aztec Circle Dr., which has remained closed since Sunday's water main break on the north side of campus, will reopen at 1 p.m. today, Sept. 25. There are no ongoing impacts related to this incident.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "annotations": [
        "Exact text from SDSU official urgent.sdsu.edu archive entry for Sept. 25, 2024 11:59 a.m."
      ],
      "characterCount": 213,
      "sourceUrl": "https://urgent.sdsu.edu/archives/2024-09-22-water-main-break",
      "sourceDescription": "SDSU Urgent Campus Information archive (official)"
    }
  ],
  "context": "[San Diego State University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_State_University) experienced two separate water-related infrastructure emergencies in 2024 alone: an unplanned water outage on January 12 caused by an off-campus city water main break, and this on-campus water main break on September 22. The September incident struck on a Sunday morning, limiting its impact on academic operations but still affecting research labs in the Donald P. Shiley BioScience Center and art studios in the North and South Art buildings. Infrastructure failures like water main breaks are among the most common campus emergencies but are underrepresented in alert archives because they lack the dramatic quality of active threats. Yet they test the same notification systems and create real disruption. SDSU's alert system handled this incident with a clean three-message sequence: initial notification, water restoration, and road reopening, as [documented by NBC 7 San Diego](https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/sdsu-water-main-break-water-shut-off-university-buildings/3629210/). The university also experienced an unplanned power outage on October 26, 2024, suggesting aging campus infrastructure may be a recurring challenge.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "Infrastructure failures are among the most common campus emergencies but are rarely archived alongside violent incidents",
    "The three-day road closure that outlasted the nine-hour water outage illustrates how secondary effects of infrastructure failures can extend the disruption timeline",
    "SDSU experienced at least three utility-related emergencies in 2024 (January water outage, September water main break, October power outage), suggesting a pattern worth monitoring",
    "Sunday timing minimized academic disruption but still affected research and campus operations"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Water Main Break (SDSU Urgent Campus Information Archive)",
      "url": "https://urgent.sdsu.edu/archives/2024-09-22-water-main-break",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Water main break at SDSU prompts road closure on Aztec Circle Drive (Fox 5 San Diego)",
      "url": "https://fox5sandiego.com/news/water-main-break-at-sdsu-prompts-shut-off-road-closure/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "SDSU water main break prompts water shut off to some university buildings (NBC 7 San Diego)",
      "url": "https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/sdsu-water-main-break-water-shut-off-university-buildings/3629210/",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "infrastructure-failure",
    "water-main-break",
    "campus-closure",
    "road-closure",
    "san-diego",
    "california",
    "facilities",
    "utility-outage",
    "non-violent"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-04-04",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-18",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}