Sewage Spill Closes a Laguna Shore
A sewage leak Sunday led Laguna Beach city officials to ban swimming along 2,000 feet of Cleo Street Beach until county health inspectors determine the water is safe.
The spill occurred about 11:25 a.m. Sunday at Park Avenue and Hidden Valley Canyon Road and drained into the ocean from an outfall pipe at Cleo Street, said Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Jason Kravetz.
It was unclear how much sewage entered the ocean.
The beach remains open but the ocean is closed to surfing and swimming from Brooks Street to the Main Beach lifeguard tower.
City crews were trying to determine the cause of the leak. Kravetz said the spill, which was stopped within an hour, did not appear to result from a break in the line.
Roger von Butow, chairman of the Clean Water Now Coalition, said he was walking by just as city workers arrived at the beach.
“It looked and smelled like what it was,” von Butow said. “It was very dark, opaque and rank in smell.”
The Orange County Health Care Agency will test the water’s bacteria levels today to determine when the area can reopen, Kravetz said.
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