Warning! Beach Closures This Week

Attention all surfers, beach combers, visiting tourists, etc. The beaches of the South Bay, specifically from Ballona Creek to the Manhattan Pier, will be CLOSED from Tuesday through Thursday this week. You might think it's because of the rain, god know that's usually reason enough to stay out of the water for fear of skin and sinus infections, but this time it's due to "periodic" maintenance from the Hyperion Water Treatment Plant:

"Miles of local beaches will be closed this week as a precaution when the Hyperion Treatment Plant near LAX starts releasing its massive flow of processed wastewater just 1 mile from the coast, in 50-foot-deep waters.

The plant normally sends 300 million-plus gallons a day of effluent 5 miles offshore, but is shutting down that main outfall Tuesday through Thursday, so scuba divers for the first time ever can enter and inspect the concrete conduit for wear and tear."

Hopefully this maintenance by divers will show the pipes are in fine working order. Those of us affiliated with Heal The Bay, know how long it took to get those five miles of pipe out there in the first place.

And do us a favor, give it a couple extra days just for good measure.