Garden Grove sewage line leaking since July

Michael Matter

A sewage leak originating in Garden Grove closed two marinas in

Huntington Harbour last week and over the holiday weekend.

Both the Sunset Aquatic and Portofino Cove marinas in the Huntington

Harbour water area were closed to swimmers last Thursday at 12:30 p.m.

The spill was caused by a line puncture in Garden Grove’s sewage

collection system, said Monica Mazur spokeswoman for the County of Orange

Health Care Agency, Environmental Health. Officials do not know how much

sewage was released into the water.

“This turned out to be sort of a strange spill,” Mazur said. “Garden

Grove was inspecting one of their storm drains and discovered sewage that

should not have been there. It turns out that Pacific Bell accidentally

punctured a sewage line last July and now Garden Grove is leading the

effort to determine how much sewage may have already been spilled since

then.” The two marinas were to remain closed until the results of

follow-up water quality testing determined that water met acceptable

minimum standards, Mazur added.

While Sunset Aquatic Marina was able to open on Saturday, Portofino

Cove Marina was not reopened until Monday and still posted signs that it

exceeded acceptable bacteria standards.

The county uses seven bacteria monitoring levels to keep citizens

informed about water quality.