Is SSPA basement safe ?

While explaining that last month's flood of the SSPA Building's basement was caused by cracks in the subterranean proofing around the structure, Facilities Management Director Jeanne O'Dell called the basement as safe as any other building on campus.

The flood, which occurred the weekend of Aug. 11-13, released 42,500 gallons of apparent groundwater into the basement.

The water mixed with hydraulic fuel used for the building's elevators and forced sludge from storm drains, creating a health hazard for several Cal State Long Beach employees who went home sick, and producing a powerful stench that has yet to fully disappear.

Due to concerns about safety, Dr. William A. Mulligan, the chairman of the journalism department, which had occupied the basement since 1976, decided the department would not to return to the building.

O'Dell said her department is working to patch up the cracks and repair the damage inside the building. Occupational Safety Specialist Richard Johnson of Environmental Health and Safety said that tests performed on water recovered from the basement showed only small levels of coliforms, meaning the water did not contain sewage. Johnson said the water contained "an acceptable level of microorganisms for drinking water."

The question of whether or not the basement of a building with a history of leaks and proven cracks in its proofing can be safely inhabited is causing disagreement between Facilities Management and the journalism department. O'Dell said the weak spots in the proofing were something she would expect of any 22-year-old building, and stressed that it was Mulligan's decision to move the department, not hers. "It's no more unsafe there than in any other building on campus," she said.

Despite that claim, the journalism department completed most of its temporary move to the North Campus Library last week.