Long Beach and Seal Beach waters are still closed after 2.4 million gallons of raw sewage spewed into the ocean, leaving health officials to await the results of further water-quality testing and cleanup crews to deal with the spill’s aftermath around LA city streets.
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Long Beach and Seal Beach have been closed and health officials will test the waters for bacteria to determine whether they’re safe.
Though the spill took place some 20 miles from the harbor, officials closed the beaches fearing the sewage could flow down the riverbed, into the harbor and to the ocean.
The spill – described by one health official as the biggest in recent memory – began Monday afternoon, when the top of a sewer pipe collapsed, sending debris into the pipe and causing overflow. Crews are now at work to create a permanent bypass system which will divert sewage past this old pipe. The sewage in question, which travelled 22 miles from Boyle Heights to the Long Beach terminus of the river, is composed of untreated waste water, according to Department of Public Works spokesperson Tonya Durrell.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – About 5 miles of Southern California beaches remained closed Wednesday due to a massive sewage spill that flowed into the Los Angeles River. Flags and warning signs lined the beaches to warn visitors of possible contamination. “My little sister, she wanted to come to the beach forever, the whole summer…she gets here and it’s like, you can’t get in, so what’s the point, you know?” “The bummer is I have people coming from all over the world”. The pipe dates to the 1920s, Johnson said.
The cause of the collapse wasn’t clear. “It just did not wait for us”, Hagekhalil said.
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That spill could release about 5 million gallons by the time the pipe is repaired.
