A power outage late Saturday afternoon caused the shutdown of three wastewater effluent pumps, resulting in raw sewage backup and basement flooding in two laboratory and office buildings at the University of California, Davis. None of the wastewater entered open waterways in the arboretum or elsewhere on campus. After the power outage, the recently installed pumps should have been restarted automatically by an emergency backup generator, however the pump controls had inadvertently been programmed to require manual startup. The pumps, which normally carry wastewater to the campus wastewater treatment facility, stopped working at 5 p.m. Saturday and were restarted after the problem was detected at 10 p.m. Saturday. The five-hour lag time caused about two inches of raw sewage to back up in some areas of the basement in Briggs Hall and the dean's offices of the Division of Biological Sciences in the Life Sciences Building, located on the west side of the central campus. Custodial crews worked around the clock to remove the water and disinfect the flooded areas, which remain temporarily closed to employees and students who normally work there. Cleanup will continue Monday and Tuesday as investigators from the campus Facilities and Environmental Health and Safety units work to determine the extent of the damage. At least 50,000 square feet of space was affected, including about 35 laboratories. Investigators are trying to find out if any research projects were affected by the shutdown. Cost of the pump failure and resulting flooding has not yet been determined. Media interested in viewing or photographing the site should contact the Environmental Health and Safety representative assisting campus employees in the plaza area just east of Briggs Hall.