Beaches reopen after two-day safety scare

Swimmers and surfers were free to reenter the water from the Newport Beach Pier to Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach Monday afternoon, after a two-day closure, according to lifeguards in both cities.

The Orange County Environmental Health agency spent the weekend sampling ocean waters along the almost five-mile stretch of beach.

The agency deemed the water safe for the public just after 2 p.m. Monday, said Larry Honeybourne, the program chief for the agency’s Ocean Water Protection Program.

The closure occurred Saturday morning when a leak was discovered in an onshore Orange County Sanitation District pipe, which dumps treated waste water into the ocean, said the district’s spokeswoman Jennifer Cabral. While crews repaired the pipe, the water was dumped only a mile-and-a-half offshore instead of the normal five miles, she said.

“The beach was closed just as a precaution,” Cabral said after the beach had been reopened.

The pipe was repaired Saturday at approximately 1:30 p.m. and during the two days of water sampling, bacteria levels weren’t elevated, Cabral said.

Health officials look for three types of bacteria that indicate the presence of pollution, including fecal waste.

For more information on Orange County water closures, call the Ocean and Bay Closure Hotline at (714) 433-6400.