Local News in Brief : Beach Reopens After Spill

A stretch of the Redondo Beach waterfront at King Harbor was reopened to swimming Thursday after a three-day closure due to a sewage spill, county health officials reported.

A sewer line outside the Cheesecake Factory restaurant on Harbor Drive apparently became clogged early Monday, and sewage backed up, spilling into the harbor, according to inspectors from the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

The restaurant was closed through the lunch hour Monday but reopened that afternoon when plumbers cleared the blockage, said Doug Zeif, restaurant operations manager. “The problem wasn’t created by us,” he said, explaining that the blockage occurred in pipes down the sewage line from the restaurant.

County health officials Monday banned swimming on a half-mile stretch of beach from King Harbor to Ainsworth Court, which is south of the pier in Veterans Park.

After water samples were analyzed Wednesday, the beach was reopened south of the pier. It remained closed north of the pier in the harbor area until Thursday afternoon, when further samplings showed that the water was safe, according to Richard Kebabjianof the health department. Only a small part of the closed area is used for swimming, he said.

Tests results Wednesday showed a “very high” bacterial count in the harbor, indicating the presence of sewage containing potentially harmful organisms, Kebabjian said.

As the harbor waters changed with the tides, the organisms were dispersed and the waters could be reopened for swimming, he said.