University of Iowa's loudest tradition, the Power Plant whistle, became dangerously loud

The familiar daily chime that has been described as the University of Iowa’s longest-lived and loudest tradition became too loud. Noticing the Power Plant whistle had reached hazardous sound levels, university staff stopped setting off the whistle last December. 

Officials have not yet decided whether to repair the whistle. 

The whistle stopped sounding off across Iowa City four times per day on Dec. 14, after Glen Mowery, director of UI Utilities, noticed a change in the vintage chime's sound.

"Several weeks ago I noticed the Power Plant steam whistle seemed to be getting louder and had acquired a rather piercing tone," Mowery wrote in an email late December. 

Across seven days, staff monitored the daily whistle. Several readings taken throughout that week showed hazardous levels of sound. 

University officials have declined requests for interviews about the whistle, responding to the Press-Citizen's January inquiry with a brief tweet. Email interactions detail the staff's reservations about the safety of the whistle. Brent Anderson, UI occupational safety manager, wrote the volume of the whistle was louder on the roof area, where employees and contractors occasionally work. 

Aside from the "extreme noise" these workers would face, Anderson noted these workers might also be startled by the chime while working on the roof. 

The whistlel is believed to once have been necessary to the Power Plant's operation. There is dispute over when the first steam whistle was installed, though a university newsletter narrows down the date to sometime between 1925 and 1932. 

It was installed as a way to notify workers of the start of the day, their lunch break and the end of the day. Long after the need for such a whistle, it was still manually sounded off at 8 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. 

By 2018, the whistle was only set off out of a sense of nostalgia and tradition. Anderson noted that requiring plant employees to monitor and set off the bell took up only a minimal amount of time, but was unnecessary. 

The steam whistle is a vintage 6” Lunkenheimer, 3‐bell chime, made in Germany in the early 1900s. Mowery said in an email that finding parts to repair the machinery would be difficult and expensive.

At the time the whistle was taken down, the utilities director said Power Plant staff were fully engaged with installing a boiler and steam turbines, but agreed to come up with an  idea of what rebuilding the whistle would cost "when resources are available."

This week, a university spokesperson said no further evaluation has been done as to whether or not to restore the Power Plant whistle.