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July 26, 2016

UConn using some of its own funds to upgrade infrastructure

Crews are working through the summer to replace aging underground utility lines in a multi-year project. Peter Morenus/UConn Photo Crews are working through the summer to replace aging underground utility lines in a multi-year project.

Water and steam line leaks being addressed through a University of Connecticut infrastructure overhaul may soon be a thing of the past, with UConn funding some of the work itself.

Like many large aging campuses with their own utilities, UConn is upgrading its networks, with the help of the state of Connecticut, according to the campus news outlet, UConn Today.

About $1.5 billion for 10 years’ worth of capital improvements are funded through the Next Generation Connecticut initiative, which Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the General Assembly approved in 2013. (Some of that funding also will be used for curriculum improvements.)

To help reduce the state’s costs, UConn is paying $28 million to replace 2,800 linear feet of steam lines and upgrade other utilities between the School of Business and the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on Hillside Road.

The expense, half of which is for the new steam lines, is expected to be recovered through savings in utility costs over the next 15 years, the university said.

Many of the university’s 29 miles of water lines in the heart of the campus were installed between 1914 and 1916. Over the years, others were added as the campus expanded. UConn dates most of its steam pipes at 50 years old, well past their 30-year lifespan.

UConn also has about 47,000 linear feet of steam and condensate lines dating from the 1930s through the 1960s, the university said.

“Having infrastructure problems literally costs us money every day,” said Scott Jordan, UConn’s executive vice president for administration and chief financial officer. “Fixing those problems represents savings that will benefit UConn and its students.”

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