Swimmers Told It’s Safe to Go Back Into Water
Health officials in Long Beach gave the OK Tuesday for swimmers to go back into the water after an analysis of water samples showed bacterial contamination had subsided.
Only the downtown marina area still showed abnormal levels of bacteria and was considered closed, although the one-mile stretch is not used for swimming, surfing, fishing or other water contact activities, said Don Cillay, the city’s environmental health officer.
Complaints about a sewage smell Thursday prompted officials to take samples of shoreline water. When analysis revealed high levels of coliform bacteria, health workers closed the city’s entire five miles of beaches Friday.
Health officials believe that the coliform, a bacteria present in fecal matter, came from sewage runoff from the Los Angeles River.
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