Latest Sewage Spill Fouls Newport Bay

About 1,500 feet of Newport Bay was closed to swimming and diving Wednesday after a grease-blocked line sent up to 700 gallons of raw sewage seeping out of a manhole and into the water at the ritzy Balboa Bay Club.

The closure marks the sixth time the ocean off Newport Beach has been tainted by untreated human waste this year.

The water from the west end of the Balboa Bay Club marina down through part of Bayshore Beach will remain off-limits until bacteria tests show that it meets health standards, said Larry Honeybourne, program chief of the county Health Care Agency’s water quality section.

“There’s a lot of docks in that area, and a little amount of beach,” he said. “Obviously we’re concerned about the boat divers that might get in there.”

The part of Bayshore Beach affected is known locally as “Play Beach,” because it is a calm, sheltered swimming spot frequented by parents with toddlers. Children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems are especially susceptible to pathogens found in sewage. Contact with the water could cause gastrointestinal, upper respiratory, eye, ear, nose or throat infections.

The spill was caused by a grease blockage in a private sewer line on the Balboa Bay Club property in the 1200 block of West Coast Highway, said Don Webb, public works director for the city of Newport Beach. The spill was discovered around 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Attempts to reach Balboa Bay Club officials were unsuccessful.

The grease probably built up over time from the club’s fine-dining restaurant, the First Cabin, as well as residents pouring bacon fat and other shortening down their kitchen drains, Webb said. “The grease congeals and forms a hard substance, which ultimately blocks the line.

“No sewage spill is good . . . and we’re working toward making it zero-tolerance,” Webb said. “But there are times these things happen, and I don’t think they can be completely eliminated.”

It was the 33rd closure caused by a sewage spill in the county this year. Last year, there were 22 such closures. Officials don’t know if this year’s jump is caused by more spills or better reporting. Tougher reporting requirements and a crackdown by state water officials may be prompting more reporting than in years past.

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Recent Problems

About 1,500 feet of Newport Bay is off-limits to swimmers and divers because of a 500- to 700-gallon raw sewage spill Wednesday morning. The closure is the sixth in Newport Beach this year, and the 33rd in Orange County in 2000, caused by untreated human waste reaching the ocean.

*Note: number of gallons approximations

Source: Orange County Health Care Agency