Newport Bay water closure lifted after sewage spill

A Newport Bay water closure caused by a sewage spill reported Monday has been lifted.

“This morning we got clean samples from all of seven of our monitored stations in the Newport Bay harbor,” Anthony Martinez of the Orange County Health Care Agency said Friday. “The concentrations were all very borderline.”

The affected bay water, between 43rd Street and a projection of Via Genoa on Lido Isle, had been closed to swimmers and sailors.

The spill of about 10,000 gallons of sewage was caused by a line blockage in the Orange County Sanitation District sewer collection system, according to the health agency.

The Health Care Agency also issued a rain advisory Monday cautioning swimmers that bacteria levels can rise significantly in ocean and bay waters close to storm drains and the outlets of creeks and rivers during and after rainstorms.

“The elevated bacterial levels in the coastal ocean waters may continue for a period of at least three days, depending upon the intensity of the rain and volume of runoff,” the advisory read. “Swimmers should avoid Orange County coastal waters during this time, and beach users should avoid contact with any runoff on the beach.”

Sewage is not normally present in storm runoff, since the sewer system is separate from the storm drain system, the county’s Environmental Health Division said.

“The county is still under the rain advisory [from Monday],” Martinez said. “Depending on the amount of rain [Friday], the advisory will probably go until Monday.”

Allyson Escobar is a contributor to Times Community News.