Bay reopens to public after sewage spill

Paul Clinton

Public health officials have reopened a 2.5-mile section of Upper

Newport Bay after tests revealed the water was not contaminated.

The Orange County Health Care Agency closed the beach at 8:15 a.m.

Friday, after an irrigation pipe on the Irvine Ranch Water District’s

land broke and spilled more than 250,000 gallons of partially treated

waste water into the San Diego Creek. The beach was reopened at 2:33 p.m.

Sunday.

After two days of testing for potential disease-causing bacteria, the

health agency allowed the public to again have access to the water.

“The results from [testing] Friday and Saturday were clean,” said

agency program chief Larry Honeybourne.

By 3:15 a.m. Friday, water district workers had contained the spill,

which occurred at 5:15 p.m. Thursday. However, mop-up chores continued

throughout Friday as district workers pumped the waste water back into

the treatment plant.

There have been 340 spills along the Orange County coastline this

year, along with 38 beach closures.