250,000 Gallons Of Raw Sewage Spills Into LA River, Closing Beaches

LOS ANGELES, CA — Just two days before Earth Day, health officials closed all coastal swimming areas in Long Beach after 250,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Los Angeles River in Downey Thursday morning.

The spill comes the same week state officials proposed more than $21 million in fines against the City of Los Angeles for another massive sewage spill in 2021 that sent 12 million gallons of wastewater onto local beaches, creating public health issues persisting to this day, the Los Angeles Times reported.

According to the Los Angeles County Sanitation District, the current spill began when maintenance crews encountered a problem with malfunctioning equipment that caused a blockage in the sewer. The blockage caused a large amount of sewage to overflow into the street in Downey and down a storm drain leading to the LA River, officials said.

"Although our staff worked to set up containment to prevent sewage from reaching receiving waters, we estimate that 250,000 gallons of sewage reached the Los Angeles River before our crews could fully contain the sewage that spilled into a local storm drain," LACSD said in a statement.

The spill was contained in Downey by 11:20 a.m., and crews continued to clean the area and urged members of the public to avoid Rives Avenue between Burns Avenue and Stewart and Gray Road for the remained of the day on Thursday.

This spill is the second to affect Long Beach in less than two months and the fourth in LA County in just eight months. On March 16, another spill of about 18,000 gallons made its way into the river and shut down beaches from Long Beach to Orange County.

In September 2022 beaches in Palos Verdes Estates, Torrance and Redondo Beach were shut down due to a 5,000-gallon spill. Beaches in Marina del Rey and Venice were also shut down in January after a spill of 64,000 gallons of raw sewage caused by a blocked main line.

Long Beach City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis ordered all open coastal swimming areas in Long Beach temporarily closed for water contact due to a sewage spill.

The city's Health Department's Recreational Water Quality Health Inspection Team is monitoring water quality along the affected beach sites. Water monitoring will continue until results comply with state water quality standards, said Long Beach spokeswoman Jennifer Rice Epstein.

City News Service contributed to this report.