The greatest problem posed by the broken water main in front of Warren Towers Sunday night was that students, faced with the prospect of inoperative sinks or toilets for about six hours, had to cross a frigid Commonwealth Avenue to use the bathrooms in the College of Arts and Sciences. All in all, the incident was an inconvenience — but certainly no catastrophe.

Yet the poor methods of communication exhibited by the Warren Towers Office of Residence Life do not bode well for future — and potentially more serious — emergencies, and reflect a troubling inability to disseminate information quickly and reliably.

The ORL posted flyers by elevators on each floor to inform students of what had happened and what options were available. But does this really seem like an effective approach? Suppose some students didn’t leave their rooms that night, or they didn’t happen to see a flyer. Suppose the water main had broken on Bay State Road. Would flyers be able to inform students in every brownstone?

Of course, one could argue that if the emergency were serious enough, a fire alarm would suffice to get students out of danger. But this does not account for all kinds of emergencies. A fire alarm sends one very specific message: “Get out as fast as possible.” For most of the emergencies ORL may face, students will need detailed information on what to do and whom to contact.

At the very least, the ORL should start sending out emails to reach students quickly and provide the necessary details in times of emergency. But the university should also consider developing a well-publicized, centralized information source that’s continuously updated, like an emergency hotline; that way, students would know where they can go for information at all times, and wouldn’t have to rely on an old-fashioned and unreliable method like posting flyers.

The university did a good job of opening up facilities for student use Sunday night. But this accomplishes little when students aren’t properly informed. For now, the water main incident will serve as a warning sign that accidents in the future might not turn out so well.