Sewage Spills Close Beach, Maybe Lake Hodges

A section of Ocean Beach will be closed to swimmers and Lake Hodges may be closed to fishermen this week because of two sewage spills in San Diego County on Sunday night.

In the larger of the spills, which authorities said were unrelated, about 12,600 gallons of sewage flowed down a canyon near Moon Song Court into Lake Hodges, said Gary Stephany, deputy director of the county’s environmental services department.

A power failure at a nearby pumping station caused the sewage to back up and flow into the canyon at a rate of 20 gallons a minute, said Jim McCurley, a spokesman for the San Diego water department.

“There was a power outage at a new power station,” McCurley said. “They got the station going this morning (Monday) at about 8:30.”

Utility customers in the Rancho Santa Fe and Encinitas areas get their drinking water from Lake Hodges, so the supply from the lake was staunched Monday as a precaution, Stephany said.

About a month’s supply of water is kept on reserve, and no customers were without water Monday, he said. State workers will conduct tests this week to determine if the water has been contaminated.

The lake may be closed to fishermen Wednesday--one of three days a week when fishing is allowed--if the water is deemed unsafe, Stephany said.

Meanwhile, a section of Ocean Beach near the mouth of the San Diego River will be closed for several days because of a sewage spill in Mission Valley, said Dan Avera, a spokesman for the environmental services department.

About 7,500 gallons spilled from a manhole on Waring Road and into the river Sunday night, Stephany said.