SAN PEDRO, Calif.—All beaches in Long Beach and Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro remained closed to swimmers and surfers Feb. 7 due to sewage spills that poured millions of gallons of contaminated material into the ocean.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced Feb. 5 afternoon that sewage had discharged from an unspecified location around 6 a.m., sending untreated sewage into the Dominguez Channel, which leads to the area near Cabrillo Beach. The sewage flow was eventually halted.
The circumstances of the sewage discharge were not immediately known, but on Tuesday, health officials said the spill resulted in 8 million gallons of sewage entering the channel.
As a result, health officials declared the ocean water at Cabrillo Beach off-limits until bacteria levels return to acceptable levels.
The spill also prompted Long Beach health officials to close off the water at all of its beaches. Long Beach officials said an additional spill in Commerce also occurred Monday, involving another 40,000 gallons of sewage that flowed into the Los Angeles River and ultimately the ocean.
Health officials had already issued a warning for people to avoid all ocean water in the county due to bacterial runoff from the rain storm.
