Campus flooded by red tape

By Chris Sawyer
Staff Writer

Flooded parking lots. Drenched dorms. Stagnant water. These don’t sound like the typical concerns of a college student, yet here at “Lake Pembroke” they have become a major irritant for campus residents.

High-water chaos has struck Pembroke at least twice already this year, raising the question why something isn’t being done about the flooding that occurs when major storms hit. Seeking answers I look to one of our school’s Physical Plant Engineers, Bess Tyner.

“The water table in Robeson County is high,” she says. “Anywhere you dig down a few feet and you will hit water.” Failure to maintain drainage compounds the devastating effect heavy rains have on an area with a high water table, she explains, so it is essential that area drainage systems be properly maintained.

Tyner contends that while the Physical Plant has worked hard to maintain on-campus drainage, their efforts won’t resolve the problem unless the town of Pembroke does its part, too. To illustrate, she shows me a ditch off Prospect Road, just across from the UNCP, where all of the school’s run-off water drains. Tyner explains that the ditch falls under the Town of Pembroke’s jurisdiction.

As we drive down the road, Tyner comments on the canal’s poor condition. Sediment is thick, and she seems to think that it had been many years since it had been cleaned. Her theory is confirmed when we find thick, mature trees growing from about the small channel, their roots choking essential runoff channels. When I ask Tyner what it would take to get this mess cleaned up, she responds, “a backhoe and a dump truck would suffice.”

Our university brings money to the local economy. Is it too much to ask the town of Pembroke to do their duty and protect public safety and clear out the long ignored, foul-smelling drainage ditch along Prospect Road?

Garry Harris, Director of Public Works, says this problem is more complicated than it might seem, as there is “a joint responsibility” between the Town of Pembroke, the county and the state, as well as private organizations such as Odum Home and the railroad. Both he and Tyner describe to me the drainage ditch running across private property for multiple miles and as being a “large undertaking” involving politics and heavy machinery.

Harris says the town is in the process of doing something about the problem but more than obvious is the fact that hardwood trees have grown strong and thick in the time it has taken local planners to address this major issue. So thick, in fact, that Harris informs me that removing the well-rooted hardwoods throughout the drainage ditch would require a special machine called a Track-Hoe.

But it needs to be done, and soon. Red tape has delayed necessary maintenance to ensure that UNCP is high and dry come the next big storm.