In a Stink

More than 100,000 gallons of waste water and raw sewage spilled into Newport Bay and over a stretch of Coast Highway on Tuesday after a construction crew accidentally ruptured a pipe.

Areas of the bay will be closed to swimmers for at least three days while the Orange County Health Department tests the water.

“It’s a significant amount,” said Lt. John Blauer, spokesman for the Newport Beach Fire and Marine Department. “And we’re not yet 100% sure of the content.”

The pipe broke between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. under the 3300 block of Coast Highway near Newport Boulevard. A construction crew subcontracted by the Southern California Gas Co. was trying to drain water from the area when workers mistakenly drilled into a 24-inch pipe carrying sewage to a treatment plant in Huntington Beach.

Before the sewage was diverted to another line at 9:45 a.m., 50,000 gallons of waste water had seeped into the bay and 50,000 more had flowed onto the highway. Throughout the morning, cleanup crews used shovels, skip loaders and vacuum trucks to remove sewage from the road and skimmers to clean the harbor.

All but one lane of eastbound Coast Highway was closed in five-minute intervals for the first two hours of the cleanup, said Police Sgt. Mike McDermott. The eastbound road was completely cleared about 4 p.m. The bay remains open for boating, but no people will be allowed from the Lido Turning Basin by Coast Highway to the end of Lido Island.

Because the accident occurred in the morning, much of the sewage was from residential areas and not from industrial plants, said Michelle Tuchman, spokeswoman for the Orange County Sanitation District.

“People have been showering, brushing their teeth; that’s the majority of it. There’s little or no manufacturing waste that got through.”

The Orange County Health Care Agency immediately began testing thewater for microbes, said spokesman Larry Honeybourne. “Any time you have raw sewage that’s emptied out, the risks can be high,” he said.

The results of the tests will be compared to California’s swimming standards, Honeybourne said. He predicted the bay will be reopened within a week.

But the spill was an unwelcome intrusion for local restaurateurs.

“It stinks around here,” said Daniel C. Marcheano, president and owner of the Arches restaurant, across from the spill site.

“You never want to see anything like that near you. It’s a horror story for anyone who lives here.”

Tuesday’s lunch crowd, predicted the general manager of nearby Bistro 210, would “probably be meager.”