A sewage spill again shuts down beach swimming in Orange County, near Newport Bay

Orange County officials have closed a portion of the ocean near the west end of Newport Bay from 8th Street following yet another sewage spill.

The Orange County Health Care Agency said Monday that a blocked sewer line at a restaurant in Newport Bay leaked about 35,000 to 50,000 gallons of untreated sewage into nearby waters.

This spill comes less than two months after a 48-inch sewage main in Carson failed, spewing millions of gallons of waste into the Los Angeles Harbor and fouling beaches in Long Beach and elsewhere in L.A. and Orange counties.

Before that, a massive spill from the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey dumped 17 million gallons of waste into the Santa Monica Bay last July, closing beaches and prompting outrage and closer scrutiny of management of the plant.

Several months before that, Orange County health officials closed a roughly half-mile section of the Newport Beach coast to ocean sports due to a 1,000-gallon sewage spill.

Beaches potentially contaminated by the latest spill will remain closed to swimming, surfing and diving until the results of follow-up water quality monitoring meet acceptable standards, the Orange County Health Care Agency said.