Local News in Brief : Beach Will Stay Closed

Marina del Rey’s only public beach will remain closed this month, and possibly through the summer, because of persistent high levels of fecal bacteria, the county says.

The beach has remained off-limits to swimmers and windsurfers since a sewage spill last October at the nearby Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant. The spill contaminated beaches up and down the Santa Monica Bay coast, but bacteria counts have returned to safe levels everywhere except at the marina’s beach.

The presence of fecal coliform bacteria indicates that the water is contaminated by feces from warm-blooded animals, county officials said. A report released last week by the state Regional Water Quality Control Board points to shore birds as at least one source of the pollution. Tests among boat slips near the beach has ruled out illegal sewage dumping by boat owners as the cause of the problem, the report said.

The beach will remain closed because the county has had only limited success at tracing the source of the pollution and treating the waters to reduce the amount of bacteria, officials said.

Officials had hoped a $60,000 water circulation pump installed off the beach in early April would reduce bacteria levels and allow the beach to open by the end of that month. But the problem-plagued pump has only functioned for about 10 days since it was installed.