BREAKING NEWS:Southbound highway lanes reopen; northbound lanes remain closed

Southbound South Coast Highway has opened, but northbound lanes will remain closed overnight Friday from Center Street to Diamond Street, as crews continue to repair a sewage leak under the busy thoroughfare.

The city’s top brass spent the day working on the spill that has left a half-mile stretch of the highway a virtual ghost town for the past 24 hours.

Beaches from Thalia Street to Rockledge Road will be closed for the next 48 hours, at a minimum, while the county’s health department tests water samples taken from the sites for E. coli and other contaminants.

Lifeguards and signs have been posted to prevent beachgoers from swimming or surfing in the area.

Parts of Glenneyre Street, Catalina Street and the perpendicular streets in the spill area also were closed today.

An attempt to repair the faulty air release valve clamp on the North Coast Interceptor between Center Street and Diamond Street early this afternoon failed; a similar effort was made last night, but was abated.

Crews will try again at 2 a.m. Saturday to make the repair, but the highway will remain closed until the work is finished and a thorough cleanup is performed, Division Fire Chief Jeff LaTendresse said.

The crew opted to wait until after peak evening water use times.

“It’s just not practical to attempt anything sooner,” LaTendresse said.

The delay will also give many crew members time to rest following more than 30 hours of work without sleep.

The situation began at around 3:30 p.m. Thursday, when the clamp failed and spilled about 6,500 gallons of raw effluent onto the highway and into the ocean at Agate Street, City Manager Ken Frank said.

Crews were able to control the leak by about 5:30 p.m., but by that time, 50 gallons per minute of effluent were coursing down the highway’s gutters.

A city official said a report by the Orange County Register that 20,000 gallons of effluent had escaped was erroneous.

“We haven’t lost anything since about 5 p.m. yesterday afternoon,” Frank said.

No backflow or crossflow problems have been reported.

“It’s a problem, but it’s not a catastrophic problem,” LaTendresse said. “The pipe is still flowing at 90% of its normal flow.”

The pipe itself was not damaged.

The highway remained shut down overnight, while crews from a variety of agencies, including the county health department, Caltrans, State Fish and Game and the Orange County Fire Authority’s Hazardous Materials Team worked around the clock.

“They’ve got more safety people than you can imagine,” Frank said.

Ristorante Rumari Italiano and other area establishments fed hungry, tired workers.

Electrical and water crews were also working in the area, but by coincidence, Frank said.

This morning’s attempt was performed after the morning’s highest use period, as people showered before work and school.

Vacuum trucks were backed into an area behind yellow and red hazardous material warning tape, where they were filled with effluent from the pipe in order to relieve its pressure. Cases of hazardous material suits from San Onofre and other locations sat nearby.

Several thousand gallons also flowed out this afternoon, during the first attempt to repair the leak.

Officials shut down the Bluebird Pump Station in an attempt to relieve pressure to the main where the faulty clamp is located, so the repair could be conducted.

The area immediately surrounding the station was temporarily evacuated.

But during the balancing act, just before the station was to be shut down, the effluent leaked into the ocean off of Bluebird Street.

“It was a small price to pay,” LaTendresse said, compared to the prospect of South Coast Highway being covered in raw sewage.

The tense mood lightened for a period this afternoon, when it seemed the repair was well in hand.

Gatorade and pizza were handed out to the crews, which began to remove their hazmat suits and scrub down the soles of their work boots in inflatable kiddie pools.

But after a new clamp was attached to the pipe, part of it began to fail, leading to the decision to shut down the station and make another repair.

The attempt tonight could bring more sewage spills. Should it fail, the city may bring in bypass systems that would be set on the street to assist in the repair, a process which could take days.

In the meantime, several businesses remained closed Friday. Scott Thompson, owner of the Sweetwater Hand Car Wash, said he would have serviced 170 cars that day, but he was happy to lend his property to the city, which turned it into a temporary command station.

Frank said the city has spent more than $15 million updating its sewer system in the past seven years; this is the first spill that has caused a beach closure since November 2006.

When spilled sewage reaches state waters, it is in the purview of the Regional Water Quality Control Board to fine cities, companies and individuals for the leak.

The board has not yet announced the fine the city will be required to pay for the spills.

Frank confirmed in a statement Friday that the failure was not related to the pipeline work farther down Coast Highway at Nyes Place, which was completed earlier this month.

He estimated that it could take up to two weeks for permanent repairs to be made.

Information regarding the status of Coast Highway can be obtained from the Laguna Beach Police Department at (949) 497-0747.