Beaches Open Again After Hyperion Sewage Spill Says County Health Department

The Los Angeles County Health Department and the nonprofit environmental group, Heal the Bay, have slightly differing attitudes toward current water quality in the Santa Monica Bay after a sewage spill on July 11 from the Hyperion Water Treatment plant. Heal the Bay appears to agree with County Health that water quality at the earlier affected beaches, Dockweiler and El Segundo, have reached acceptable levels, but "we urge you to exercise caution by regularly checking the LA County Department of Public Health website for water conditions and beach closures at PublicHealth.LACounty.gov/Beach and Heal the Bay's Beach Report Card (https://beachreportcard.org/)," says the Heal the Bay blog.

Additionally, Heal the Bay cautions that 4 other sites do exceed State standards, and coming into contact with water at these locations could cause illness. "It is unclear if these exceedances are due to the sewage spill, recent rainfall, or something else," says Heal the Bay. The locations with unsafe conditions are:

Topanga County Beach at the Topanga Canyon Lagoon

Will Rogers State Beach at the Santa Monica Canyon storm drain

Santa Monica State Beach at the Santa Monica Pier

Manhattan County Beach at the 28th Street storm drain

Below is the press release regarding beach reopenings from the Los Angeles County Health Department:

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has reopened the following swim areas that were closed due to sewage discharge from the City of Los Angeles Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, after results from the ocean water samples collected over the last two days met State standards for acceptable water quality:

Beach # 110 – Dockweiler State Beach at Water Way Extension

Beach # 111 – Dockweiler State Beach at Hyperion Plant

Beach # 112 A – El Segundo Beach

Beach # 112 B – Grand Ave. Storm Drain

Following a sewage spill, Public Health collects water samples to determine bacteria levels. Public Health collected multiple ocean water samples for two consecutive days to determine if the water quality met State standards in the affected and nearby areas. In an abundance of caution, Public Health will continue to sample affected beaches through Thursday.

Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant discharged 17 million gallons of untreated sewage through their one and five-mile outlets which prompted the beach closures. Once Public Health was notified that the Hyperion Plant discharged sewage in the outlet pipes, Public Health posted closure signs at affected beaches and posted information online.

Public Health officials notified lifeguards to remove beach closure signs earlier this evening shortly after receiving the tests results confirming the beaches were safe to reopen. The Beach Water Quality webpage is updated to reflect the reopening.

Recorded information on beach conditions is available 24-hours a day on the County's beach advisory hotline: 1-800-525-5662. Information is also available online at http://www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/beach/.