Sewage Spill Closes Part of Beach in Ventura

A mile-long stretch of beach was closed Saturday after a broken sewer pipe spilled about 2,000 gallons of raw sewage into a barranca leading to the ocean, authorities said.

The break occurred at 10 a.m. near Aliso Lane and Main Street, Ventura Police Lt. Brad Talbot said.

A city sanitation department worker notified state authorities, and they in turn contacted the county Environmental Health Department, Talbot said.

By early Saturday afternoon, health officials had posted warning signs on the beach near the barranca mouth at Harbor Boulevard and Sanjon Road.

The closure--from Sanjon Road to Seaward Avenue--may last several days, said Brian Ketterer, a lifeguard at San Buenaventura State Beach.

Officials from the Environmental Health Department were not available for comment Saturday.

The last time county officials closed a local beach was last April, after a 20,000-gallon sewage spill in east Ventura. In that incident, roots from a ficus tree blocked a pipe and sent sewage into the gutter.

Fearing the sewage would wind up in the Santa Clara River and flow to the ocean, the mile-long stretch of beach near the river mouth was closed.

The latest closure did not appear to faze the handful of beach-goers on the shore Saturday afternoon.

At the end of Seaward Avenue, 70-year-old Vince Ditomaso of Las Vegas had harvested and shucked a seemingly healthy mussel, unaware of the bacteria that had spilled into the ocean.

*

“I was going to eat that one raw,” said Ditomaso, dropping the mussel to the ground after learning of the spill. “But now I’m not going to.”

But the knowledge was too late for Ditomaso’s nephew, 43-year-old Louis Moore of Sylmar.

“I already ate one,” Moore said.

Ketterer, the lifeguard, said some people went into the ocean, despite the warnings.

“We told a couple of boogie boarders to get out,” Ketterer said late Saturday afternoon.

He said, however, that the inclement weather had served to keep the beaches fairly empty.

George Kuzma, 48, did not let the posted warnings get in the way of an afternoon of searching for metal objects on the stretch of beach near the spill site.

*

“Actually, after every heavy rain I suspect there is sewage on the beach,” Kuzma said.

But educator Tom Carmody of Ventura, who also came to the state beach in search of treasures, said he would stay north of the affected area.

“I think I’ll go the other way,” Carmody said.

Ketterer said county officials will return to the beach to monitor the spill.

Medical experts warned the public to take the warnings seriously.

Dr. Richard Midthun, co-director of the emergency department at Columbia Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, said hepatitis A and E. coli bacteria are commonly found in sewage.

“Any kind of water-borne infectious agent that can survive in salt water can be spread to people swimming,” Midthun said.

Hepatitis A is usually not fatal and may lead to vomiting and diarrhea, he said, while “E. coli can cause serious infections depending on the strain.”

*

The bottom line, according to Midthun, is obey the warnings.

“The signs were put up there for a good reason,” he said. “Why take the chance?”

The spill occurred after up to 2 inches of rain pounded the coast Friday. Although the broken pipe was not caused by the storm, the rain-soaked barranca helped carry the sewage to the ocean.

Skies began to clear early Saturday and should remain mostly clear for the next several days, with a slight chance of showers, forecasters said.

Weather specialist Bill Hoffer of the National Weather Service said the highs will be in the low to mid-60s, with lows in the mid-40s.

“It’s going to be nice overall,” Hoffer said.