LOCAL : O.C. Officials Expect Beaches to Remain Closed Several Days

The closure of a four-mile stretch of beach, triggered when a malfunctioning gate caused a spill of 250,000 gallons of raw sewage Wednesday, will probably continue for several days, officials of the Orange County Sanitation District said today.

The spill at 5 p.m. Wednesday flooded several major streets and caused raw effluent to cascade into basement dressing rooms of the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa (Story, A1). The spill lasted for an hour before sanitation district officials could open additional gates to allow the sewage to pass through, said Blake Anderson, director of technical services for the district.

Anderson said today that the spill happened after a five-ton gate that is used to direct the flow of sewage from a treatment plant in Fountain Valley to another treatment plant in Huntington Beach slammed shut. The gate closed, he said, because a device used to open it suddenly failed.

“The gate slammed shut, so the water backed up and then it ultimately spilled into sewers and into the streets through manholes,” Anderson said. “So we just opened additional gates to let the flow through.”

Some of the sewage poured into the ocean after spilling out of storm drains near the mouth of the Santa Ana River. The resulting contamination has prompted a shutdown of the beaches between Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach and the Newport Pier in Newport Beach, Anderson said. The closure is expected to remain in effect for several days.