Coastal swimming areas in Long Beach are closed until further notice due to a sewage spill that may have potentially contaminated the beaches.
Nelson Kirr, manager for environmental health in Long Beach, said that storm water from Tuesday’s rain contributed to the sewage spill in San Gabriel that leaked down to local waters 33 miles away from the point of origin. The rain overwhelmed a construction site, causing a sewer line to leak about 250,000 gallons of sewage into the ocean.
Mitchell Kushner, city health officer in Long Beach, ordered the local swimming areas to be tested for safety before reopening.
Kirr said that the estimate of sewage increased to 420,000 gallons when the Los Angeles County Sanitation Department was able to discharge the spill five hours after the original leak.
“The issue is compacted by the fact that we had a lot of rain,” Kirr said. “A test that came back today was very high in bacteria, and we will continue testing until the water is clear and by that time we will make a determination to whether or not to re-open the beach.”
The sewage is continuing to spread down the L.A. river and impact coastal beaches, and it is still impossible to say how much longer before the issue is resolved, Kirr said.
“When it is just raining all by itself we got a lot of fertilizers like oil, trash, debris and whatever is in the street that gets washed into the storm system and ends up on our beaches,” Kirr said. “When you add the sewage spill to that we have a very bad situation.”