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Little Corona Beach still closed from sewage spill
Newport Beach's Little Corona Beach will remain closed throughout Independence Day after it was shut down Friday as a result of a large sewage spill.
(
County of Orange
)
Newport Beach's Little Corona Beach will remain closed throughout Independence Day after it was shut down Friday as a result of a large sewage spill, authorities said today.
"You can go in the sand above the high tide watermark, but you can't go into the water," said a Newport Beach police watch sergeant.
On Friday, a break in a sewer force main caused a 3,000-gallon spill near the intersection of Ridge Route and Newport Coast Drive. Irvine Ranch Water District owns and maintains the line. Its crews have been working on repairs, according to a City of Newport Beach news statement.
The sewage had been leaking about 200 gallons a minute, Shannon Reed, Irvine Ranch Water District spokesperson, told the Daily Pilot. The leaky pipe was quickly bypassed, but some of the spill sewage reached a storm drain in Buck Gulch and necessitated the closure of Little Corona Beach by the Orange
County Health Care Agency's Environmental Health Division.
The Health Care Agency is following a state law which requires a beach to be closed if a sewage spill enters a storm drain and there is no diversionary measure in place that would prevent the water from entering the
ocean, according to a City of Newport Beach news statement.
There is usually a 72-hour mandatory closure period, but it is the Health Care Agency's decision as to when the beach will be reopen.
The cause of the rupture was not immediately known, and officials from the Irvine Ranch Water District could not be reached for comment today.
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