Public health officials close stretch of Laguna Beach coastline after 95,000-gallon sewage spill

A sewage spill amounting to an estimated 94,500 gallons resulted in the closure of a significant portion of the Laguna Beach coastline on Wednesday.

Orange County Health Care Agency officials opted to close the beaches from Laguna Avenue to Blue Lagoon in response to the spill. The decision was made by the agency’s environmental health division.

The incident occurred due to a “break in a force main sewer line,” per the agency. Laguna Beach public works had been performing routine maintenance on the line overnight.

A sign warning beachgoers at the Brooks Street marquee after a reported sewage spill in Laguna Beach.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“It’s an aging sewer system, and so we go in and do these kinds of routine maintenance repairs all the time,” Mark McAvoy, the city’s director of public works, said in an interview with KTLA on Wednesday. “We tend to do them at night when the system is at its least use, and unfortunately, equipment failure caused this spill to happen.”

Mayor Bob Whalen said the sewer line was “fully repaired, shut down and cleaned up” by 8 a.m.

Whalen recalled a 1.4-million-gallon wastewater spill that originated from the city sewage system in 2019, and he was glad to hear that the more recent incident was “fairly minor by comparison.”

The beaches looking north from Brooks Street are empty after a reported sewage spill in Laguna Beach on Wednesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Laguna Beach reached a $1.5-million settlement agreement with the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board following the larger spill that occurred over Thanksgiving weekend four years ago.

County health officials have closed off the impacted waters to swimming, surfing and diving until water quality testing shows that “acceptable standards” have been met.

A sign warning beachgoers at Oak Street after a reported sewage spill in Laguna Beach.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“I strongly urge Laguna Beach residents, visitors and tourists to heed the warnings of public health experts and avoid the beach,” Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said in a statement. “I am monitoring the situation to ensure we protect public health and our beaches.

“The Health Care Agency will continue testing the water to determine when the beach is safe to reopen.”