Threat to Health, Waters Must Be Blocked : Beach Closures Due to Sewage Spills Following Heavy Rains Demand Our Attention

For a county that has a love affair with the ocean and beaches, an unfortunately cavalier attitude about sewage pipes and storm drains prevails.

It seems that every year the winter rains, no matter how light, are sufficient to force the closure of beaches because of sewage leaking from pipes. This is a public health problem, not a matter of convenience, and requires attention despite fiscal problems.

This year it was Newport Bay’s turn for pollution. A farmer spotted a break in an 18-inch sewer pipe at San Diego Creek. The broken line, the responsibility of the Irvine Ranch Water District, was in Irvine and might have been leaking for days before the discovery, officials said.

A 200-foot section of the pipe was washed away by gushing water from the heavy rains. By the time workers were able to build a bypass, more than a day had elapsed and an estimated 1.2 million gallons of sewage had spilled into the creek. The creek feeds into Newport Bay, which health officials wisely closed to swimming and water sports.

Newport Bay may have been the worst pollution problem of the recent rains, but it was not the only one. Sewage spills also forced closure of beaches in Laguna Beach, Seal Beach and Dana Point.

The Irvine Ranch Water District’s sewer pipe was made of clay, which officials said was the normal material for sewer pipes. It was quickly repaired, as usual, once spotted.

But the better solution is preventing such spills, through inspections, lining flood channels with concrete and trying to locate pipes in spots less vulnerable to heavy rains. Too often the public reaction to sewage spills seems to be a shrug of the shoulders, as if they were the cost of doing business in South County. That is not enough. The days when relatively few people lived in the county, and few were bothered by sewage spills, are gone. It’s time to take better care of the public health.