Results tagged “sewage”

Unfortunately, sewage spills in the Long Beach area are all too often. The latest began this weekend when a sewage line began to leak on Saturday night. The waste entered the storm drain system and headed towards Shoreline Village at the mouth of the L.A. River.

    

Public health officials today extended the closure to a portion of Will Rogers State Beach after tests confirmed that sewage was being discharged from a storm drain into the ocean. How much sewage? Approximately 9.600 gallons, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health. That's a big yuck.

Public Health officials are warning the public that a one-mile stretch of Will Rogers State Beach in the Pacific Palisades area might be tainted by sewage from a nearby storm drain. Late Tuesday night, a citizen alerted authorities of a "foul smell" emanating from the storm drain, prompting LA County Public Health officials to take samples of ocean water in order to determine if sewage has been discharged. The precautionary measure--swim at your own risk!--will remain in effect until noon, Friday, pending test results. The beach currently has an A+ on Heal the Bay's Beach Report Card.

On September 9th, the Santa Monica Pier celebrated its Centennial. Fireworks lit up the sky and thousands of people gathered to honor a landmark that seems to be synonymous not only with Santa Monica, but with Los Angeles, and our love affair with having fun at the edge of the Pacific Ocean

Closed Monday after 1,000 gallons of sewage spilled into Los Cerritos Channel, three affected beaches were allowed to open back up to the public today after tests concluded the water was within state standards. Mother’s Beach, Colorado Lagoon and Marine Stadium were closed after a private pumping station failed, spilling raw sewage into the storm system. Water quality monitoring will continue to be performed by the Health Department’s Recreational Water Quality Program on a weekly basis, says Long Beach officials.

As one side of the city deals with importing water, even as they face a possible water rationing situation, another deals with exporting the water. The City’s Bureau of Sanitation is in charge of wastewater, which is the focus of City Controller Laura Chick's most recent audit (.pdf) on performance and efficiency. As usual... "There are issues, however, uncovered in my audit regarding a lack of 21st Century business practices and efficiencies, which require attention." Among the problems she lists are broken equipment, outdated software and the lack of evaluation. Los Angeles has the largest sewer system in the nation with 6,500 miles of sewers carrying 450 million gallons of waste every day. A 2004 lawsuit settlement after torrential rains caused significant sewage overflowing gave the city 10 years to implement a program to reduce the flooding in future rainstorms.

A deteriorated metal clamp at a Laguna Beach pump station caused thousands of gallons of sewage to spill out onto city streets and into the beach for eight hours today, beginning around 2:00 a.m. this morning. The mess has caused four miles of coast to be closed meaning beaches are to be closed for an estimated two days. The OC Register lists past beach spills in previous years, but Long Beach holds the title for most sewage spills with 31 of them as of August.

3.85 miles of beach were closed yesterday after 20,000 gallons of sewage spilled into the LA River via the Compton Creek in the Watts area. Long Beach's Health Officer, Dr. Helene Calvet, issued a beach closure specific to Long Beach’s open coastal beaches from Alamitos Avenue to 72nd Place, according to a release issued by the city. This is the 31st sewage spill since January causing the fourth beach closure. This time last year, there had been 41 spills and 7 closures, according to LA Times background work.