Sewage Spill Closes 2 Miles of Beaches

A 2-mile stretch of beach from Ocean Beach to Mission Beach was closed Friday and could be shut down for most of the weekend because a corroded pipe burst, sending 50,000 gallons of sewage sludge into the ocean.

The beaches affected are between Del Monte Avenue in Ocean Beach and Ventura Place in Mission Beach, right near the Giant Dipper roller coaster, said Lt. Charles Wright, a San Diego city lifeguard.

The beach area in Ocean Beach is scheduled to be closed until Monday, but Mission Beach could reopen as early as this afternoon, Wright said.

A hole, 3 inches wide and 8 inches long, sent the treated sewage into the San Diego River flood channel, where it flowed into the ocean, said Dan Child, a waste-water treatment superintendent with the city’s Water Utilities Department.

The section of pipe that broke was on Sea World Drive on the north side of the flood channel.

It is part of an 8-mile-long pipe that carries 800,000 gallons of sewage daily from the city’s sewage-treatment plant on Point Loma to sludge-drying basins on Fiesta Island, Child said.

The first report of the break came in about 8:45 a.m. Pumps were shut down, stopping the rush of sewage in about an hour, Child said.

The beaches were closed because the bacteria in the sewage contaminated the water, Wright said.

“There’s no real way to clean it up,” Wright said. “It becomes diluted over time in the ocean and the bacteria counts are reduced to the point of not being dangerous anymore.”

Signs are posted on the beaches warning people to stay out of the water.

In addition to becoming sick, people who ignore the signs could be arrested, Wright said.