Northwest Missouri State University - Tower Yearbook (Maryville, MO)

Page 28 text:

The Ups and Downs of the 102 River: Harsh drought conditions prevailed all summer and Maryville residents were in Phases I and II of a five-phase water conservation program. Phase III of the program was to go into effect one week into the fall semester, but sudden heavy rains prevented its enactment. Phase III would have imposed some seri- ous restrictions on students, including Umited showers and laundry, restricted use of recreational facilities and shutting down of residence hall air conditioning. Photos by Todd Weddle and Don Cariick 24 Drought

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Anticipating a big win, Michael McLaughlin waits for the start of the football game. Approximately 400 families visited campus throughout the day. Photo by Dana Nelson Rheba Eustice introduces E.J. to Bobby Bearcat. Later, a Student Ambas- sador painted a pawprint on E.J. ' s face as a memen- to of the day. Photo by JoAnn Bortner Three-year-old Bearcat fan Carrie Giacometti roars for the ' Cats along with her Grandma Carrie and Aunt Michelle. The Giacomettis traveled from Kansas City to join Michelle for Family Day Photo by Dana Nelson

Page 29 text:

Eric Clemens takes a break from a football game on the mud- covered tundra between the high rises. Photo bv Todd Weddle if f t [he Two Extremes of [her Nature Por the second consecutive year, Mother Na- ture was unkind to Maryville and surround- ng areas. The region suffered harsh drought conditions uring the summer which dried up wells and ionds, heavily damaged crops and forced those li - ng in town to conserve water any way they could. The situation grew even more complex as North- zest began its fall semester, increasing the area ' s lopulation by nearly 6.000. In order to compen- ate for arriving students, the city planned to rogress into Phase III of a five-phase water con- ervation program, which called for a 20 percent eduction of all water usage. The restrictions of this program would have laced some undesirable limitations on students. ■ Phases I and II were bad enough, David Rey- olds said. Phase III would have been hell. No .c, limited showers— I would have gone insane! Restricted use of recreational facilities, limited n-campus laundry and altered class schedules . ' ere also among the limitations slated to begin one eek after school began. The University hauled water from St . .Joseph the eek of Aug. 30 to compensate for the strain stu- ents put on the the dwindling water supply. According to Public Relations Officer Bob Hen- y, 12 truckloads of water were brought in before aught off guard, students get a good shower as they ■alk to classes. The long-awaited rain was a relief to area psidents who were hindered by the restrictions from le water shortage. Photo by Tbdd Weddle the rain began. Each truck carried 100,000 gallons of water and cost the University $150. We wanted to do e er tl ing possible to provide for the students Henr ' said, But if the situa- tion hadn ' t improved after a couple of months the state probably would have asked us to shut down the school. However, later that week something unexpect- ed happened. It began to rain . . . and rain . . . and rain! By Monday morning over five inches of precipitation had fallen and the region was not re- quired to enter Phase III. The rain continued throughout the next week, forcing many students to walk to class during heavy rainfall. It was like a TUP commercial, Scott Turner said. Everj ' one was smiling and laugliing. Nobody cared that they were getting soaked. After more than a week of rain some areas reported receiving 13 inches of accumulation. Although somewhat overshadowed by its posi- tive effects, the rains caused several problems. Franken and Phillips Halls experienced roof leakage and a number of buildings in Mar ' ville flooded. Also, widespread lightning damaged numerous computing units and some of those with impaired terminals had to wait several weeks for repairs. By the end of August the area was in Phase I and it appeared that things would get back to normal. Nevertheless, students and area citizens were encouraged to continue practicing water conser- vation so they would be prepared for dry weather should it reoccur Late August rainstorm saves Mary- ville from entering Phase III by Steve Rhodes Drought 25