FROM SPILL PAGE 1 Meeting to target plastic waste
WILL ROGERS BEACH Portions of Will Rogers, Venice and Dockweiler beaches remained closed today after sanitation officials were notified of a raw sewage spill Tuesday afternoon.
At Will Rogers, 100 yards of the beach will be closed until at least this afternoon on both sides of the Santa Monica Canyon Creek, where sanitation officials estimate 431 gallons of raw sewage entered the Santa Monica Bay.
County health officials warned swimmers and surfers to avoid contact with ocean water, which could cause illness.
“Los Angeles County residents and visitors to these beaches should avoid contact with the ocean near the point of discharge until these portions have been deemed safe to reopen,” said Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, the director of public health for LA County.“We will be conducting water quality assessments to test the level of bacteria in the water. Beaches will remain closed until test results indicate that bacteria levels meet health safety standards.”
Venice Beach is closed from the Marina del Rey channel entrance to a quarter mile north of the channel. Dockweiler Beach is closed from Ballona Creek to a quarter mile north of the channel.
County health officials said at least 2,400 gallons of sewage flowed into Ballona Creek and out into the bay.
Sanitation workers from the city of Los Angeles responded to the Will Rogers discharge at 12:03 p.m. Tuesday, completed clean-up work at 12:40 p.m. and notified the county health department at 3:30 p.m.
Culver City officials responded to discharges leading to Ballona Creek and Venice and Dockweiler beaches at 3 p.m., completed clean-up work at 4 p.m., and the county department of public health was notified at 4:27 p.m. Recorded information on beach conditions is available around the clock on the Los Angeles County department of public Sewage spills and the time it takes to notify health officials was at the center of a sweeping set of recommendations approved by the county board of supervisors last week to improve the sewage spill reporting process. The move followed an audit that found county officials failed to keep accurate records or act quickly to protect public health in more than 90 percent of the 208 sewage spills in the bay over the last three years.
The board is also pursuing changes in state laws to permit fines against those who fail to report spills to the county’s public health officer.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 8, 2007. Read the original PDF.