Southeast/Long Beach : STOP THE FLOOD

Reek as it may, tests indicate that the 40,000 gallons of water that recently burst into a basement at Cal State Long Beach was not sewage. The mystery now is what caused ground water that was stagnant for perhaps 20 years to flood the building, shutting down offices and chasing away a campus newspaper staff.

University officials have hired consultants to figure out why a sporadic leak suddenly built up enough pressure two weeks ago to unleash two to three inches of contaminated water on the floors of the 22-year-old Social Sciences/Public Affairs Building. The flood occurred between Aug. 11 and Aug. 13.

The basement was declared safe after custodians pumped the water, originally thought by university staff to be sewer water, from the basement. They said the water was contaminated with petroleum-based hydraulic fluid from the basement elevators.

No estimate has been given on the amount of damage from the flood, but a number of computers in the basement’s computer lab are down. Workers are busy repainting the stained basement walls and replacing tiles.

But when the semester starts Monday, the work is unlikely to impress journalism department staff and students, who often complain about the windowless basement and occasional puddles. Classes have been scheduled across the campus and department staff members are currently relocating their offices as well.