Beaches around the ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Seal Beach have been closed for swimming because of a massive spill of untreated sewage in the Dominguez Channel, officials announced Friday.
The spill ranged from 2 million to 4 million gallons on the low end to as high as 6 million to 7 million gallons of untreated sewage, according to health officials.
The beaches will remain closed to swimming, surfing and other water-related activities until water quality levels meet acceptable standards, health officials said.
Sanitation crews were working in Los Angeles and Long Beach to clean up the immediately impacted areas and cleanup was expected to be completed Friday, health officials said.
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Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn issued a statement regarding the spill.
"A sewage spill of this magnitude is dangerous and unacceptable and we need to understand what happened,'' Hahn wrote. "The recent storm undoubtedly contributed to the spill but we need infrastructure that doesn't fail when it rains. I am calling on L.A. County Sanitation Districts to do a full investigation into the cause of the spill and whether aging or faulty infrastructure was involved.''
Recorded information on beach conditions is available 24 hours a day
at 800-525-5662 or publichealth.lacounty.gov/beach/.
