Officials Say Spill Not a Health Threat
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Laboratory results indicate that a 35,000-gallon sewage spill into Channel Islands Harbor and Mandalay Bay does not pose a health threat, Oxnard officials said Friday.
“I don’t believe the spill ever represented a health risk to the community,” said Michael Griffith, Oxnard’s waste water manager. He said the sewage was treated with large doses of chlorine before it flowed into the harbor and bay.
Griffith also called the spill minor.
“It is kind of like throwing a thimble of water into a bath tub,” he said.
The spill began Wednesday night when a pumping station was shut down to allow replacement of a damaged pipe. The construction workers took too long to get the job done, and sewage backed up in the pipes.
Griffith said a hatch began to leak at the pump station, and he decided to release the backed-up sewage.
“It was sort of a controlled spill,” he said.
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