How Close to a Beach Crisis? : Sewage leaks ruin people’s fun, turn people away and raise alarms

“What a waste of time,” lamented one visitor from Georgia on learning that her sweltering trek to one of our renowned beaches last weekend was in vain. Expecting a cooling dip in the Pacific Ocean, she found instead that county officials had closed a stretch of beaches from the Hyperion sewage treatment plant, at Ballona Creek, north to Rose Beach in Venice. The reason: a sewage leak from an unidentified source.

County officials were right to act quickly. Their action conforms with a recent protocol approved by the Board of Supervisors to safeguard the public from ocean pollution.

That problem is increasing. Reports of contamination--and resultant local beach closings--have become alarmingly common in recent years.

Beaches remained closed on Monday; levels of coliform bacteria, from fecal matter or rotting food, have begun to drop in local waters but remained high.

Southern Californians seeking coastal relief from the summer heat are understandably hesitant to head for the beach only to read, “Beach closed, avoid water contact.” What to do? A check with one of the county lifeguards’ information lines can prevent a wasted trip: Call (310) 457-9701 for conditions at Malibu and Zuma beaches, (310) 379-8471 for South Bay beaches and (310) 451-8761 for beaches on the county’s central coast. The county lifeguard headquarters’ number is (310) 394-3265.

Are we in the midst of a beach crisis? However that is defined, it’s clear the county needs to step up its efforts to identify and plug the source of repeated sewage leaks. And each of us must do our part by not dumping garbage into streets or gutters. The storm drains are not trash cans; they are expressways to the sea.