LAGUNA BEACH : Beaches Reopened After Sewage Spill
Beaches north of the Aliso Pier were reopened on Monday morning after tests by the county showed no bacterial contamination in the water following a sewage spill on Jan. 8.
“The tests revealed that there was not sewage in the water, so we were able to reopen a lot sooner than we expected,” said Robert E. Merryman, director of the county’s Environmental Health Division.
The bacterial tests were conducted Friday, two days after a power outage caused 85,000 gallons of raw sewage to flow into the ocean.
County officials immediately closed 2,000 feet of beachfront when the spill was discovered. The spill occurred when a power outage shut down a Moulton Niguel Water District pumping station, which allowed untreated waste to flow into Aliso Creek for about an hour.
Other systems also failed to contain the overflow because a backup generator at the pump station malfunctioned, district officials said.
Although Aliso Beach was not affected by any spills last year, it was shut down three times in 1990 by sewage spills.
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