Aliso Beach Reopened After Getting Clean Bill of Health
Laguna Beach’s Aliso Beach reopened Tuesday afternoon after a three-day closure caused by a 1,500-gallon spill of partially treated waste water from a nearby treatment plant.
Results of the county’s bacteria tests Sunday and Monday fell well within state guidelines, according to Monica Mazur, spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency.
Saturday’s spill occurred after a sewer line cap broke off at the Aliso Water Management Agency sewage treatment plant a quarter mile from the mouth of Aliso Creek. County officials closed a 2,000-foot stretch of the beach.
The incident was the third time this year that the county has closed portions of the beach because of spills of raw or partially treated sewage.
Last month, the county built a 4-foot berm of dirt and rock 50 feet upstream from South Coast Highway to keep creek runoff from reaching the beach. The county demolished the berm Saturday morning after an overflow of seawater from high tides and high surf backed up the pond beyond its permitted level.
The berm was broken down just before the spill occurred, said Larry Paul, manager for watershed and coastal resources in Orange County. The county will rebuild the berm today or Thursday, Paul said.
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