Long Beach swimming areas have been closed after the city was informed that 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of sewage was discharged into the Los Angeles River on Tuesday.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works informed the city that the spill originated in Paramount, and was caused by a grease-clogged sewer line, the Long Beach Health Department said in a statement Wednesday.
Local beaches will be closed “out of an abundance of caution” until the water quality meets state requirements, the statement said. The city is monitoring the water quality along the city’s 7 miles of coastline.
A recent reported spill in January involved 9 million gallons of sewage that flowed into the Dominguez Channel after a 60-year-old pipe that was on the county repair list broke open. It was the largest spill for the L.A. County Sanitation District, which has been keeping spill records since 1981.
What caused a record sewage spill in Long Beach, and will it happen again?