One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
18,000 gallons of sewage spill into San Gabriel River, forcing waterway closures in Long Beach
A man jogs along the beach in Long Beach.
(
Fernando Haro Garcia
/
Long Beach Post
)
Health officials are warning people to stay out of the water all along the Long Beach coastline after a large sewage spill sent thousands of gallons of waste flowing downstream to its beaches.
More than 18,000 gallons of sewage were discharged into the San Gabriel River on Tuesday, according to the California Office of Emergency Services.
“The sewage spill occurred in the City of Industry due to railway installation work that cut through a pipe,” the city of Long Beach said in a health notice Wednesday night.
City health officials said they’ll reopen the water at local beaches when the water quality and bacteria count return to healthy levels.
Long Beach is no stranger to closing its beaches when upstream cities send sewage flowing into the San Gabriel or Los Angeles rivers. It’s talked about exploring ways to hold those polluters accountable and has more recently pushed for better regulation of cities allowing litter into the L.A. River.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
