Briefly in the news

A half-mile stretch of Orange County coastline was reopened Monday to

swimmers and all ocean contact sports four days after it was closed due

to a sewage spill.

The Newport Slough in Newport Beach where the spill occurred remains

closed.

The Orange County Health Care Agency had to close the half-mile

stretch from Highland Street in Newport Beach north to the Talbert

Channel in Huntington State Beach and the slough Thursday after an Orange

County Sanitation District sewer pipe cracked, releasing 50,000 gallons

of raw sewage.

The sanitation district was able to contain about 40,000 gallons of

sewage in a dirt berm by the slough, but 5,000 to 10,000 gallons of

sewage flowed into the nearby Santa Ana River channel, and eventually

into the ocean, said district spokeswoman Lisa Murphy.

The spill occurred between 8 and 9 a.m. Thursday, when a 30-inch wide

pipe burst at the district’s Bitter Point Pump Station near Cappy’s

Restaurant in Newport Beach, Murphy said. The Health Care Agency closed

the stretch of beach within two or three hours of the pipe erupting.

The spill occurred at high tide, on the day of the lowest tide of the

month, said Larry Honeybourne with the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Thats meant a great deal of sewage was washed out into the ocean,

Honeybourne said.

“We’re concerned about the water flowing out of the slough and into

the Santa Ana River,” Honeybourne said. “The water was pulled by tidal

action through the Santa Ana River and coastal area, but we’re not sure

the amount of water exchanged. The information is not readily available.”

The slough is a finger of water that flows in and out of tidal gates

connecting to the Santa Ana River channel.

Honeybourne said the slough remains closed.