Following a sewage spill that led to closures along Laguna Beach, officials led cleaning efforts and reopened beaches to the public on Jan. 19.
In an OC Health Care Agency (OC HCA) press release, officials announced closures at Laguna Beach — from Treasure Island Beach to Table Rock Beach — on Jan. 14 due to a break in a sewer line. Approximately 465,000 gallons leaked from a force main sewer line near Laguna Niguel Regional Park. The sewer line break occurred on Jan 10. at 9:45 a.m. and has since been repaired, officials said.
As part of the closures, officials declared that impacted ocean areas would remain off-limits to water activity until bacterial testing confirmed safety.
“The affected ocean water area will remain closed to swimming, surfing and diving until the results of follow-up water quality monitoring meet acceptable standards,” the release stated.
Laguna Beach Mayor Alex Rounaghi told the OC Register that, according to the Moulton Niguel Water District, approximately 600,000 gallons from the sewer line leaked. Officials recovered 130,000 gallons before it reached the Sulphur and Aliso Creek convergence. The water district reportedly removed 1 million gallons of creek water to capture the spillage from the main sewer break.
According to Marine Safety Chief Kai Bond, biological samples were taken from ocean waters starting on Jan. 11. Officials also strengthened a berm, a mound of sediment between Aliso Creek and the ocean, to contain the sewage and prevent it from entering ocean waters. The berm had naturally broken due to high tide and shifting sand, the OC Register reported.
“We did take measures in order to try to prevent [the sewage spill] from going to the ocean.” Bond told New University. “[We built] up more area in front of Aliso Creek, more sand to keep the berm closed.”
In a Laguna Beach City Council meeting on Jan. 14, Bond stated that sewage from the break discharged into Sulphur Creek and Aliso Creek until the spill was stopped about four hours after the initial break. Local officials worked to dam the area, redirect flow and authorize emergency pumping to contain and clean the water.
“Actions were swift, and everybody was cooperating as far as dealing with this issue,” Bond said in the council meeting.
Water safety officials used bacterial testing to confirm the water quality at the Laguna Beach shoreline daily. According to Bond, the OC HCA received two days of clean tests before reopening the beaches to the public.
“[Laguna Beach] reopened because the water testing came back as being within the limits to reopen the beach. The Orange County Health Care Agency requires two clean tests before they can reopen an area, and in our case, the closure did receive two clean tests after the spill occurred, which allows the health care agents to tell us to open up the beach,” Bond told New University.
To inform the public of beach closures, the Laguna Beach Marine Safety Department utilized signage at beaches and social media posts. Nixle alerts were also used to send emails and text messages to residents with updated information.
“The closure does impact our visitors and residents because if they don’t know that the closure is occurring, then they have to go to a different location. So luckily for us, the positive out of this whole thing is that the closure was temporary,” Bond told New University.
Seawater at Laguna Beach and other Orange County beaches is sampled weekly by the OC HCA to ensure water quality meets state health guidelines.
Katherine Nava is a News Staff Writer. She can be found at navakl@uci.edu.
Edited by Jaheem Conley.