Sewage spill puts part of Newport Bay off-limits to swimmers
A sewage spill Thursday in Newport Bay closed a portion of the waterway to swimmers and divers at least until Sunday.
Roots clogged a Costa Mesa Sanitary District pipe at Santa Ana Avenue, pushing about 8,100 gallons of sewage up a manhole and into a nearby storm drain, said Larry Honeybourne, a spokesman for the Orange County Health Care Agency.
The drain carried the sewage into the bay, contaminating water from Upper Newport Bay to Newport Dunes.
The earliest the area could reopen is Sunday afternoon, Honeybourne said.
—Hannah Fry