Just in time for the heat wave - a beach closure
A stretch of coast close to two miles long remains off limits in Long Beach after a sewage spill in Glendale entered the L.A. River and made its way downstream, Francisco Vara-Orta reports.
The Press-Telegram goes into greater detail about the spill on its home turf:
Swimmers in Long Beach are now prohibited from going near coastal beaches west of the Belmont Pier to 3rd Place. The stretch to steer clear of is about 1.75 miles long, said Nelson Kerr, recreational water manager for the city.
Kerr said officials are running tests on the area, which is prone to runoff from the Los Angeles River.
"The beaches that surround the Los Angeles River tend to be the most problematic," said James Alamillo, the Beach Report Card manager from Heal the Bay.
According to Alamillo, beaches from 3rd Place to 14th Place and farther tend to be more contaminated with what officials call "fecal indicator bacteria."
The closure comes just weeks after the release of the annual SoCal Beach Report Card from Heal the Bay, which shows beaches in the same area of Long beach were closed for 11 days because of sewage spills. Water quality info is as close as a text message these days. Just send the name of the beach to 23907 and the most recent water quality grade appears on your cellphone.
And in a bid to help area beaches cleanse themselves, the city of Long Beach has agreed to look at whether removing the massive breakwater would make a difference, according to our own Deborah Schoch.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times
Welcome to dukie beach.
Posted by: George | June 19, 2008 at 04:15 PM
Great reporting! But I want to know WHY and HOW turds got in the water and washed up on our beach.
Posted by: Jeff | June 20, 2008 at 11:17 PM