LAGUNA BEACH
About 300 feet of beach at the mouth of Aliso Creek remained closed to swimmers Thursday afternoon after a spill from a sewage pump truck that was collecting grease from a restaurant in Laguna Niguel.
County officials estimate about 200 gallons of water-diluted animal fat and raw sewage made its way into a storm drain and flood control channel Wednesday after a Coast Grain Co. truck spilled some of its contents in the parking lot.
According to Laguna Niguel City Manager Tim Casey, the truck driver said the tank valve on the truck had been inadvertently left open while he was servicing an In-N-Out off La Paz Road.
The driver then hosed down the spill into the drain, Casey said.
Larry Honeybourne, Orange County Health Agency program chief, said if the storm drain was flowing, the waste could travel from the parking lot, down to Sulphur Creek at the Laguna Niguel Regional Park, across Alicia Parkway then into Aliso Creek, which empties into the ocean.
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