Stretch of sand closes after spill

Alicia Robinson

A sewage spill caused by tree roots blocking a sewer pipe on Monday

led Orange County Health Care Agency officials to close the beach

from the Newport Boulevard Bridge to the projection of Riverside

Drive until further notice.

A maintenance worker discovered the spill in the 700 block of 16th

Street around 3 p.m. while checking out a slipping hazard from a

possible water leak, said Jerry Vasquez, maintenance supervisor for

the Costa Mesa Sanitary District. Sanitary district workers used a

vacuum truck to control the spill, which officials estimated was from

2,000 to 3,000 gallons of waste.

The beach closure was posted because some sewage flowed into a

storm drain that leads to the harbor off Lido Marina Village, said

Monica Mazur, environmental health specialist for the Orange County

Health Care Agency.

The closure came as a flood of studies, many from UC Irvine, are

stressing that urban runoff is the likely source of bacteria and

viruses that make swimmers and surfers sick. The latest point out

that surfers at Newport and Huntington were ill twice as often in the

winter of 1998 as those in Santa Cruz.

Other recent studies have raised questions about the efficacy of

the state’s beach warning system, claiming it is too slow to be

useful.

The agency will test water samples every day until bacteria levels

are shown in compliance with state standards, she said. Most closures

last about 72 hours.

“We want to see a minimum of two consecutive days’ samples that

are within standards,” Mazur said.

Testing at the location is complicated because it’s at the end of

a major storm drain system, which necessitates a long-term posting

because of bacteria from urban runoff, Mazur said.

To avoid sewage spills caused by pipe problems, the sanitary

district recommends regular maintenance for pipes. Homeowners should

have pipes checked every year or so, or every six months if they have

a lot of trees, and businesses, including restaurants that dispose of

grease, should have sewage systems checked more often, Mazur said.

The sanitary district is trying to avert future spills by mapping

problem areas that have had spills in the past and using a variety of

cleaning methods to unblock clogged pipes, Vasquez said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.