San Diego
About 130,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled into the ocean in Ocean Beach on Monday, causing a mile of beach to be posted off limits by the county health department, said Yvonne Rehg, a Water Utilities Department spokeswoman.
Signs prohibiting body contact with the water were posted from the Mission Bay Channel to 100 yards south of the Ocean Beach Pier. Dog Beach and Ocean Beach will remain off limits as a precautionary measure until test results are available, said Lyn Wallis, a spokesman for the San Diego County Department of Health Services.
The five-hour spill began at 8 a.m. when a broken pipe caused a manhole to overflow at Friars and Mission Center roads.
“A 30-inch trunk sewer pipe broke,” Rehg said. “It’s a major pipe others feed into.”
The pipe was clogged with rocks, Rehg said.
Sewage then flowed into a storm drain that feeds into the San Diego River and west to the ocean.
The water will be tested daily until it is deemed safe.
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